Imagine the excitement of landing in Bali being abruptly cut short when your plane had to be rerouted away from the holiday island due to extreme weather conditions.
That is what reportedly happened to three flights yesterday, after they were turned away from I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport due to strong winds around the destination airport.
Antara news agency reported that winds that registered as high as 38 knots on Monday afternoon affected five planes that were scheduled to land on the Island of Gods. Three of the planes departed from Jakarta, while the other two flew from Surabaya and Hanoi, respectively.
Ngurah Rai airport operator PT. Angkasa Pura I General Manager Handy Heryudhitiawan said that the flight from Surabaya returned to its base, while the flights from Hanoi and Jakarta were rerouted to Lombok.
“The other two [flights from Jakarta] performed holding maneuvers,” he said, explaining that they eventually touched down at Ngurah Rai.
Handy added that several more flights were delayed due to the extreme weather conditions. The strong winds also damaged ceilings at several spots at the airport.
Thankfully, there were no casualties from the weather-related incidents.
