Jakarta airport and other hubs reopen after volcanic ash crisis

Indonesia reopened Jakarta’s main airport and four other aviation hubs early Tuesday, easing a crisis that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers after Mount Anak Krakatau erupted.

The Transport Ministry said Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which serves the capital, had resumed operations alongside Halim Perdanakusuma, Hussein Sastranegara in Bandung and two other airports near Jakarta or on Java. Another airport in southern Sumatra reopened on Monday. Two of the eight airports closed over the weekend remained shut.

Mount Anak Krakatau, about 150 kilometers from Jakarta, erupted on Saturday, sending lava and volcanic ash into the airspace. The closures disrupted nearly 3,000 flights and left more than 340,000 passengers stranded, according to the ministry. Soekarno-Hatta said more than 240 domestic and international flights were canceled or delayed on Monday morning, affecting almost 30,000 passengers.

“Following the current volcanic eruption activity of Mount Anak Krakatau, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport has resumed flight operations,” the airport said on Instagram. Airlines now have to move stranded passengers to their destinations after days of disruption. The ministry had prepared six alternative airports for aircraft originally scheduled to land in Jakarta.

Anak Krakatau sits in the strait between Java and Sumatra. It has remained sporadically active since emerging from the sea in the caldera formed by the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatau. A 2018 tsunami caused by a collapse at the volcano 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.