Jakarta airport and other hubs reopen after volcanic ash crisis

Indonesia’s main airport and four other air hubs reopened early on Sept. 8 as the disruption caused by Mount Anak Krakatau’s volcanic ash began to ease.

The Transport Ministry said Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which serves Jakarta, had resumed operations along with Halim Perdanakusuma near the capital and Hussein Sastranegara in Bandung, West Java. Another small airport in southern Sumatra reopened on Sept. 7. Two of the eight airports that originally closed remained shut.

Mount Anak Krakatau, about 150 kilometers from Jakarta, erupted on Sept. 5, sending lava and a plume of ash into the air. Ash detected in airspace forced eight airports to halt operations over the weekend, disrupting nearly 3,000 flights and leaving more than 340,000 passengers stranded, the ministry said.

Soekarno-Hatta reported that more than 240 domestic and international flights were canceled or delayed on the morning of Sept. 7, affecting nearly 30,000 passengers. The ministry prepared six alternative airports for aircraft originally scheduled to land in Jakarta. Airlines now face the difficult task of carrying stranded passengers to their intended destinations after days of disruption.

Anak Krakatau, meaning Child of Krakatau, sits in the strait between Java and Sumatra. It has been intermittently active since emerging from the sea in the caldera formed after the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatau. A tsunami triggered by the collapse of part of Anak Krakatau in 2018 killed 429 people and displaced thousands.

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Following the current volcanic eruption activity of Mount Anak Krakatau, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport has resumed flight operations.