North Sumatra Haze Delays 28 Flights

Medan, N Sumatra (Antara) - A total of 28 flights at Kualanamu Airport, North Sumatra, were delayed on Sunday due to thick smock covering the airport. "Up to 9 pm on Sunday, a number of flights at Kualanamu airport were delayed. There was also a plane flying from Aceh province which was forced to land in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia," Kualanamu Airport Duty Manager Djamal Amri said here on Sunday night. He said that the delay of flight departures happened with all flight routes, particularly flights to Pekanbaru, Riau province. At least 24 flights were delayed for hours at Bakanbaru's Sultan Syarif Kasim II (SSK II) Airport due to thick haze blanketing the Riau Provincial city of Pekanbaru on Saturday, an airport official said. "The longest delay, reaching nine hours, happened with a Lion Air plane from Kuala Namu airport, North Sumatra, to Pekanbaru's SSK II airport," Hasnan, the airport duty manager, said here on Saturday. The Lion Air plane was scheduled to arrive at SSK II airport at 7 am, but due to thick smoke the plane did not land until 4 pm. He said other flights had an average delay of about three hours. "Visibility happened to drop to 800 meters because of the smog that covered the airport," he added. (*)