"Visibility was down to 500 m. A plane can land at the airport if visibility is 3 km," vice presidential spokesman Yopie Hidayat said at Juanda Airport in Surabaya on Monday.
Because of the bad weather, the plane owned by the Indonesian Air Force (TNI AU) diverted its flight to Juanda Airport, he said.
"The vice president had been informed that the plane would land at Juanda Airport and he agreed," he said.
It was the pilot who decided to land at Juanda Airport because he was responsible for the safety of all passengers aboard the plane, he said.
He said the vice president would continue his journey to Malang aboard the plane until the weather there returned to normal.
"Let`s await about one hour. If the weather is okay we will fly to Malang," he said.
The plane carrying the vice president and entourage left Halim Perdanakusuma military base in Jakarta at 2.50 p.m. and arrived at Juanda Airport at 3.20 p.m.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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