Airport reopens after two-day closure
Airport reopens after two-day closure
Suherjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang
Flights into and out of Ahmad Yani Airport in Semarang, Central
Java, returned to normal on Sunday morning after a Garuda plane
that skidded off the runway two days ago was lifted from the
scene, officials said.
The Boeing 737, arriving from Jakarta, skidded off the runway
amid bad weather at around 7:40 p.m. on Friday during landing.
There were no reports of casualties or injuries. But the
accident caused panic among its 97 passengers.
The Garuda GA 252 PK-GGC, piloted by Capt. Alamsyah and
Nugroho, left Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta Airport at around 6:15
p.m. on the same day. It arrived in Semarang during an electrical
storm.
The plane's front wheel was buried in the mud on one side of
the runway.
The accident forced authorities to close Ahmad Yani Airport
for two days until Sunday morning.
It resumed operations at around 9 a.m. on Sunday after a team
from the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) managed
to lift the plane from the runway 30 minutes earlier.
A Garuda GA 232 and a Mandala 210, both flying between
Semarang and Jakarta, as well as a Merpati M-2726 flying from
Semarang to Surabaya were the first three planes to take off from
Ahmad Yani Airport after the evacuation.
The local airport authorities had to bring in a crane from
Jakarta to lift the plane from the runway as the efforts had been
hampered by the condition of the soil there following the heavy
rainfall.
The plane is now parked in a hangar, located some 150 meters
from the scene.
Cucuk Suryo Suprojo, the air transportation director-general
at the Ministry of Transportation and Communications who
witnessed the operation, admitted here on Sunday the plane was in
no condition to fly after the accident.
He said a team from his office was investigating the exact
cause of the accident.
Ahmad Yanir Airport chief executive Nyoman Sukarja said on
Saturday that at least 15 flights from Semarang to Jakarta and
Surabaya were canceled due to the accident.
The flights were rerouted to Adisumarmo Airport in the
neighboring city of Surakarta, he added.
The closure of the Semarang airport prompted the number of
rail passengers from the Central Java capital to Surabaya to
increase by almost 100 percent on Saturday, railway officials
said.
The number of train passengers traveling to Jakarta also rose
by around 20 percent on the same day, he added.