Needed spare parts and evacuation gear are flown from Batam Island by an ATR, scheduled to take-off at midnightJambi (ANTARA) - State-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II has set a target to evacuate the aircraft of Batik Air flight ID-6803 from Sulthan Thaha Airport's runway in Jambi on Sunday.
"We hope the plane can be evacuated and moved to the airport's apron on Sunday morning," the Sulthan Thaha Airport's Executive General Manager Indra Gunawan said.
Hence, the regular flight schedule could return to normalcy, he told journalists in Jambi, the capital of Jambi Province, on Saturday.
Heavy rainfall kept pouring down in Jambi city from afternoon to evening. The rain was expected to stop during the evacuation process, he said.
On Saturday evening, the Airbus A320-200, with registration number PK-LUT, remained on the runway so that the airport's regular flight schedule was disrupted.
The evacuation process of the ill-fated plane was still underway by involving Batik Air's aircraft maintenance technicians and their counterparts from the airport operator.
"Needed spare parts and evacuation gear are flown from Batam Island by an ATR, scheduled to take-off at midnight," Gunawan said.
The plane carrying 117 passengers and six crew members on board departed from Jambi's airport for the Soekarno Hatta International Aiport on Saturday at 01:00 p.m.local time.
However, shortly after taking off, the pilot decided to go back to the origin airport owing to problem with the aircraft's front tires, he said.
The Batik Air Flight ID-6803 landed safely but it got stuck on the Sulthan Thaha Airport's runway.
All passengers, including two children and a toddler, and crew members disembarked the aircraft. "Alhamdulillah (Thank God), all people are safe," he said.
Batik Air Spokesperson Danang Mandala Prihantoro said earlier that prior to its take-off, the plane had got a pre-flight check and declared to be "airworthy for flight".
"Batik Air Flight ID-6803 has been prepared properly. It is scheduled to depart (from Jambi's airport) at 01:00 p.m. and arrive at Soekarno Hatta at 02:10 p.m.," he said.
Indonesia has repeatedly experienced fatal aviation accidents over the past five years.
On December 3, 2016, a National Police's light cargo and passenger plane crashed into Lingga District's waters in Riau Islands Province.
The M-28 Skytruck, with registration number P-4201, carried 13 people on board, according to local media reports.
Then, on January 9, 2021, the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182, which was carrying 50 passengers and 12 crew members, crashed into the ocean near Jakarta.
According to the Indonesian Transportation Ministry, the airport authorities lost contact with the flight serving the Jakarta-Pontianak route around 2:40 p.m. local time.
The last contact with the Boeing 737-500 jet was made at 11 nautical miles north of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after it crossed an altitude of 11 thousand feet and was ascending to 13 thousand feet.
The plane, bearing the registration number PK-CLC, took off at 2:40 p.m. local time and was scheduled to land at Supadio Airport in Pontianak, West Kalimantan, at 3:50 p.m. local time.
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Translator: Syarif A, Rahmad Nasution
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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