"From Monday morning until afternoon the visibility is still below standard namely at around 1,000 meters (normal visibility must be around 2,500-4,500 meters). It is considered as unsafe for flights," he said.
The three cancelled flights are Sky Aviation flight scheduled to leave for Pekanbaru city (Riau province`s capital) and Pelita Air Pertamina and Pelita Air Chevron flights (both to leave for Jakarta).
Catur added he is not sure of when flights in the airport would be resumed.
Earlier the head of public relations and information data center of the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said air quality index in Riau has continued to improve in line with the declining number of forest and land fires following fire fighting operations.
Until the 10th day of operations to eradicate haze in Riau several indicators had shown a positive trend, he said.
Based on the results of monitoring through NOAA satellites on June 22 the number of fires was still recorded at 92 while on June 24 it reached 265 but on June 29 only one was left over.
This has resulted in the improvement of air quality in the region and visibility, he said.
(A051/H-YH)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
