Bandara Ngurah Rai Kembali Ditutup Hingga Jumat Pagi Akibat Erupsi Rinjani
Indonesia Shuts Bali Airport for Second Day Running
Editor : Ismail Gani
Translator : Novita Cahyadi
BANDARA internasional di Bali masih ditutup hingga Jumat lantaran dampak abu letusan dari gunung berapi di Nusa Tenggara Barat (NTB), seperti dinyatakan pejabat Indonesia, sehingga ratusan jadwal penerbangan harus ditunda selama dua hari berturut-turut.
Bandara Internasional Ngurah Rai di Pulau Dewata ditutup sejak Selasa malam karena abu erupsi Gunung Rinjani, gunung berapi aktif di pulau terdekat dari Lombok.
Pihak berwenang pada Kamis mengkonfirmasi bahwa terminal utama di Bali akan tetap ditutup sampai setidaknya Jumat pagi, mengakibatkan ribuan penumpang harus menunda perjalanan melalui udara, dan mereka harus sabar menanti kondisi udara di atas bandara kondusif untuk dilalui pesawat jet komersial domestik dan ke luar negeri.
"Penutupan Bandara Internasional Ngurah Rai ... akan berlangsung hingga Jumat sekitar pukul 07:45 karena abu vulkanik dari Gunung Rinjani," kata juru bicara kementerian transportasi JA Barata kepada AFP melalui pesan teks seperti dilansir MailOnline.
Dua bandara di Lombok - termasuk terminal internasional - dan bandara kecil di Jawa Timur yang terdampak oleh abu juga ditutup, tambah Barata.
Hampir 700 jadwal penerbangan, termasuk 320 rute internasional, dibatalkan antara Selasa dan Kamis karena penutupan bandara, kata manajer bandara Trikora Harjo. Namun dia tidak dapat menyebutkan berapa rute penerbangan yang kembali dibatalkan akibat dari keputusan tersebut.
Virgin Australia menegaskan membatalkan semua penerbangan untuk Kamis dan Jumat ke dan dari Bali untuk mengantisipasi kondisi dari "tidak aman" kondisi terbang, sementara Jetstar membatalkan semua penerbangan yang menuju Denpasar untuk Kamis dan beberapa jadwal untuk Jumat.
Maskapai penerbangan Garuda juga membatalkan semua penerbangan untuk Kamis di daerah yang terdampak, sementara AirAsia mengatakan sebanyak 67 penerbangan ke dan dari Bali dibatalkan.
Pembatalan massal mengakibatkan kekacauan perjalanan yang menimpa ribuan penumpang terpaksa menunggu di Bali, termasuk Wakil Presiden India Mohammad Hamid Ansari, yang melakukan kunjungan kenegaraan Rabu, dan terpaksa menunda penerbangan untuk kembali ke negaranya.
BALI´S international airport will remain closed until Friday due to ash erupting from a nearby volcano, Indonesian officials said, grounding hundreds of flights for a second consecutive day.
The Ngurah Rai International Airport on the resort island has been closed since late Tuesday because of a large ash cloud drifting from Mount Rinjani, an active volcano on the nearby island of Lombok.
Authorities on Thursday confirmed Bali´s major terminal would remain closed until at least Friday morning, leaving thousands of passengers in the lurch for another day, as they wait for conditions above the airport to improve.
"The closure of Bali´s Ngurah Rai International Airport... will be extended until approximately 07:45am (0045GMT) on Friday because of volcanic ash from Mt Rinjani," transport ministry spokesman J.A. Barata told AFP by text message.
Two airports on Lombok -- including the international terminal -- and a smaller airport on East Java that were all affected by the ash would also remain shut, he added.
Nearly 700 flights, including 320 international ones, were cancelled between Tuesday and Thursday due to the closure, airport manager Trikora Harjo said. He did not have an updated figure on how many more would be cancelled as a result of this latest decision.
Virgin Australia confirmed it had cancelled all flights for Thursday and Friday to and from Bali as a result of the "unsafe" flying conditions, while Jetstar scrapped its Denpasar-bound flights for Thursday and some for Friday.
Indonesian carrier Garuda also cancelled all flights for Thursday in the affected area, while AirAsia said as many as 67 flights to and from Bali would not be proceeding.
The mass cancellations spell travel chaos for thousands of stranded passengers in Bali, including India´s Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari, who wrapped up a state visit Wednesday and was due to depart the holiday island until his flight was grounded.
The deportation of an Indian fugitive wanted in his home country for up to 20 murders has also been delayed, after the crime boss was arrested in Bali more than a week ago.
Air traffic is regularly disrupted by volcanic eruptions in Indonesia, which sits on a belt of seismic activity running around the basin of the Pacific Ocean and is home to the highest number of active volcanoes in the world, with around 130.
