Indonesia airports reopen after volcanic ash disrupts thousands of flights

Five airports reopen after authorities cleared volcanic ash from critical infrastructure.

Indonesia has reopened its main airport in Jakarta and four others that had been closed ⁠due to volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau.

The five airports reopened on Tuesday after authorities cleared volcanic ash from critical infrastructure.

The disruption affected more than ۳۴۰,۰۰۰ travellers and approximately ۲,۹۰۰ flights.

Videos shared on social media by Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Jakarta showed firefighters and firetrucks clearing runways and other operational facilities covered by ash.

Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said it may take “a bit” longer for flight schedules to return to normal.

“We ask for a little patience from passengers and the public, as we will be carrying out inspections to ensure that these aircraft are fit to fly,” Dudy told reporters at the airport.

“The first departing aircraft was a cargo plane,” Dudy said. “We will be operating these aircraft, but before we do so, we want to ensure their airworthiness. So, it may take a bit of extra time.”

Anak Krakatau, which had a major eruption on Saturday, sits in a strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra.

The volcano erupted at least three times on Tuesday morning alone, according to the head of the national Geology Agency, Lana Saria.

“The impact is not as big as the previous eruptions, but we’ll continue to monitor,” the head of the Geology Agency, Lana Saria, told the Reuters news agency.

Anak Krakatau is one of about ۱۳۰ active volcanoes in Indonesia, which straddles the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone where different plates on the Earth’s crust ‌meet to create a large number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

An outburst in ۲۰۱۸ partly collapsed the volcano’s crater, which triggered a tsunami along the coasts of Java and Sumatra, killing more than ۴۰۰ people.