No departures and arrivals at the airport have been delayed because of haze."Batam, Riau Islands (ANTARA News) - Visibility at Hang Nadim Airport on the industrialized island of Batam went up to 2,000 meters on Sunday afternoon after falling to 700 meters on Friday and Saturday, spokesman of the airport Suwarso said.
"Haze from fires in Sumatra mainland has began to decline, with visibility continuing to increase to 2,000 meters on Sunday afternoon," he said.
No flight schedules at the airport were delayed on Sunday, he said.
"Up till this afternoon everything is alright. No departures and arrivals at the airport have been delayed because of haze," he said.
With the visibility reaching 2,000 meters, the airport is safe for airplanes including wide-bodied aircraft to land, he said.
A number of flights from and to the airport were cancelled from Wednesday to Saturday as visibility was down to 500 meters, he said.
On Saturday, the National Disaster Mitigation Board (BNPB) helped by relevant agencies began to put out fires in a number of places in Riau province.
BNPB chief Syamsul Maarif and Environment Minister Balthasar Kambuaya inspected the effort to extinguish woodland and forest fires in Bengkalis and Rokan Hilir, Riau, on Saturday.
Maarif said Cassa and Hercules planes owned by the Indonesian Air Force are conducting cloud seeding operations and three helicopters will be deployed to conduct water bombing efforts.
(Reporting by Larno/S012)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
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