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Kualanamu Airport closed temporarily due to fog
Kualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, was temporarily closed for all flights for an hour on Thursday from 7:24 a
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ualanamu International Airport in Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra, was temporarily closed for all flights for an hour on Thursday from 7:24 a.m. to 8:24 a.m. local time due to a thick wet particle fog.
Airport spokesperson Wisnu Budi Setianto said the closure was decided on solely for security reasons, because visibility at the airport was only 200 meters due to the thick fog.
“The visibility in the morning was very bad,” Wisnu told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
He said the thick fog at the airport forced airlines to cancel three flights on Thursday, namely JT196 heading to Banda Aceh, JT957 to Batam and IW1268 to Gunung Sitoli, Nias.
Other flights were delayed.
They included MI233 heading to Singapore, SJ013 to Penang, QG0978 to Pekanbaru, JT207 to Cengkareng, JT960 to Bandung, GA7134 to Sibolga and IW1296 to Silangit.
A Citilink flight from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in Jakarta to Kualanamu, was also forced to land in Batam.
Wisnu said that the one-hour disturbance did not cause a build-up of passengers or chaos at the airport thanks to good handling by affected airlines. “The passengers really understood the scenario faced at the airport. They considered it normal to have a delay due to bad weather,” he said.
Yolanda Mutiara of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency’s (BMKG) Kualanamu Airport station said visibility at the airport from 7 to 7:30 a.m. on Thursday was only 100 m and eventually increased to 800 m by 9 a.m.
“As of this afternoon, at 1 p.m., the visibility has returned to normal, that is, 7,000 meters,” Yolanda said.
She assured the public that the thick fog had not been caused by haze from forest fires but steam floating in the atmosphere. “This happens due to temperature cooling on the surface,” Yolanda said.
During June, she added, the weather in a number of regions in North Sumatra was still cold because of frequent rains. Yet, the regions were entering a transition from rainy to dry season. This, she said, contributed to the emergence of the wet particle fog around Kualanamu Airport.
“Such fog often covers Kualanamu Airport but not routinely. It can happen anytime, especially in the morning,” she said.
