The haze blanketing much of Southeast Asia mostly comes from forest fires in Sumatra. Photo: AFP
Clouds of haze generated by forest fires in Sumatra are a symptom of the environmental destruction going on there, but they also have serious effects on health and transportation. The haze is so bad at the moment that it has disrupted numerous flights going to Palembang’s Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II Airport, including one Garuda flight from Jakarta that was forced to turn back.
The public relations manager for airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II, Syahir Achmad, said that two planes had to cancel their landings at SMB II due to limited visibility.
“When the airport was still operational, some aircrafts were redirected back to base,” Achmad said when contacted by Tempo today.
One of those flights was a Garuda Indonesia flight from Jakarta to Palembang which decided to return back to Jakarta due to the haze. The other was an Air Express flight from Bandung to Palembang that was rerouted to Jakarta. No planes were able to take off from SMB II this morning either.
Achmad said Angkasa Pura was doing everything it could to prevent disruptions to services, but he also said they could not predict how long the haze would disrupt flight as it would depend on weather conditions.
