Sam Ratulangi Manado Airport closed on volcanic ashes

JAKARTA: Sam Ratulangi Manado Airport is temporarily closed up to Monday morning due to volcanic ashes from erupting Mount Soputan in North Sulawesi, delaying the departure of aircrafts.One Garuda Indonesia's aircraft, GA 600 Boeing 737 Classic, was stuck at the airport . It landed on Sunday morning and was supposed to continue its flight to ternate.Likewise, Sriwijaya Airs aircraft that flew from Ujung Pandang before the volcanic ashes was stuck.Sam Ratulangi Manado Airport is temporarily closed starting from 04:24 UTC to 07:00 UTC or 12:24 Wita to 15:00 Wita (Central Indonesia Standard Time) due to Mount Soputans volcanic ashes, Head of Centre for Public Communication Ministry of Transportation, Bambang S. Ervan said on Sunday afternoon.The closure instruction was issued after releasing notice to airman No A0868/11, yet, Bambang declined to detail out how long such closure will take place.According to Bambang, the airlines that usually landed in Sam Ratulangi Airport can proceed to other nearest airport such as Palu, Kendiri and Makassar.PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk VP Corporate Communication Pujobroto said one of its GA 600 aircrafts was stuck at Sam Ratulangi Manado Airport. The aircraft with a capacity of 124 passengers departed from Jakarta at 05:40 WIB (West Indonesia Standard Time) and landed in Manado at 10:00 Wita.The plan is to continue the flight to Ternate but it was eventually stuck after landing at the airport due to Mount Soputans volcanic ashes.Such closure made all flights from and to Sam Ratulangi Airport delayed or diverted. 5 flights of 12 flights on Sunday in Soekarno Hatta Airport were canceled.Those flights were Garuda Indonesias GA 520 with flight schedule at 16:00 WIB and GA 606 at 18:20 WIB, Lion Airs JT 742 at 16:40 WIB and JT 770 at 18:00 WIB, and Batavia Airs BTV 631 at 18:00 WIB. (T06/NOM)