The visibility range on Friday was very bad."Pekanbaru (ANTARA News) - The authorities at Syarif Kasim II International Airport, Pekanbaru, Riau Province, stated that several airways have delayed their flights to the airport to minimize losses until the air condition gets better.
"The airways have delayed their flights until they get certainty of the air condition. They prefer to delay the flight than divert landing to other airports," the Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport Duty Manager Hasnan Siregar stated here, on Monday.
He added that the airways should divert the landing of the aircraft to the nearest airports if bad weather was reported in the main destination airport.
The airways can divert the landing to the nearest airport of Pekanbaru including Batam, Medan and Palembang.
However, he pointed out that the local and international airways have chosen to delay the flights to Pekanbaru to save fuel.
There were at least seven routes from several airways, bound for Pekanbaru on Friday (Feb. 28) that had delayed their flights.
Twenty-four flights were delayed from departing airports to Pekanbaru on Saturday (Mar. 1).
The visibility range at Sultan Syarif Kasim II of Pekanbaru was only 800 meters from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. local time.
Meanwhile, the visibility range from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. local time reached one thousand meters. The low visibility range was feared to threaten flight safety.
"The visibility range on Friday was very bad. Only small aircrafts could dare to land at the airport. We did not permit the landing of Boeing 737 or Airbus 330 here," Hasnan added.
He explained that the air condition was safe only for aircrafts that were to take off from Pekanbaru. "The pilot would not dare to land in Pekanbaru if the visibility range is still below one thousand meters," he remarked.
The airways that operate in Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport claimed to have suffered losses due to the haze, which is considered very disturbing and can cause aviation accidents.
"We cannot estimate the total losses. However, I believe that the airways companies must suffer losses from the haze disaster," Hasnan pointed out.
The Garuda Indonesia Branch General Manager in Pekanbaru Suyatno Rifat commented that the haze in Pekanbaru has caused losses and he hoped the government will handle the disaster seriously.
"The airways companies cannot fight Nature. However, we hope the government can handle the disaster. The haze is really disturbing aviation in Pekanbaru for Garuda Indonesia and other airways," Suyatno added.
(Uu.B019/INE/KR-BSR/F001)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2014
