Man removed from Bali-bound flight in Jakarta for allegedly smoking on tarmac while plane was refueling

A video showing airport security officers at Jakarta’s Halim Perdanakusuma Airport forcing a passenger off of a Bali-bound Citilink flight went viral today, with the ejected passenger’s alleged offense being that he was smoking on the tarmac as he was walking to board the plane — while the aircraft was being refueled.

The video, which has been shared over 14,000 times on Facebook at the time of writing, was taken by user Manuel Buchacher, who posted it in the Canggu Community Facebook group page and on Instagram under the handle @bantoine2 yesterday.

In the video security officers spend a couple of minutes telling the passenger he has to disembark from the plane over the man’s persistent protests.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BfoK10mATS-/?hl=en&taken-by=bantoine2

“Can you guarantee that I will be put on another plane to Bali tonight?” the man says at one point, to which one security official responded, “let’s talk about that outside.” The man was eventually escorted off the plane at the end of the video.

Coconuts has reached out to Buchacher for his comments on the circumstances of the viral video.

Citilink Corporate Communications Officer Benny Butar Butar confirmed the incident happened on the last flight to Bali from Halim at around 9:30 pm yesterday.

“After he got out of the boarding gate and was walking towards the plane, the culprit was seen smoking up until he got on the stairs to the plane. Other passengers saw it, so when the report came in, airport security officers as well as military police officers stationed at the airport immediately took action,” Benny said in a statement, as quoted by Merdeka today.

“At the same time, the plane was refueling and (the alleged smoking passenger’s) position was close to the engine.”

Security officers came to eject the passenger not long after he took his assigned seat.

Benny did not say if the passenger was put on another flight, or if he could face criminal sanctions for smoking on the tarmac.

Under Indonesia’s Aviation Law, committing acts that could endanger flight safety is punishable by up to 2 years’ imprisonment.