Haze forces airlines to cancel flights to N. Sumatra

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

Thick haze from forest fires on the island of Sumatra and neighboring Malaysia have forced airlines to cancel flights to Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, due to reduced visibility, local officials said on Thursday.

A Garuda plane, carrying 454 Indonesian pilgrims from Mecca in Saudi Arabia, had to cancel landing at Medan's Polonia Airport on Wednesday night and was rerouted to Sepang International Airport in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Polonia Airport head Risman Nuryadin confirmed it was the limited visibility, caused by thick smoke covering its runways, which had forced the aircraft to cancel landing there.

He said the visibility at the airport was down to only 800 meters on Wednesday night.

After having circled Medan three times at 8:20 p.m., the pilot decided to reroute the aircraft and land at Sepang Airport, Risman said.

But on Thursday afternoon it tried again to fly to Medan and it managed to land at Polonia Airport at 3:55 p.m., said Garuda officials in Medan.

Risman said that with 800-meter visibility on Wednesday night, the plane should have been able to land in Polonia as it was still above the safety minimum.

However, the pilot decided not to land probably for other considerations apart from the poor visibility, he said. "There are many factors that could cause landing to fail, such as the plane's performance, the load it is carrying, the length of runways and visibility," he added.

Risman said that in Europe, even when there is no visibility, flights were operated normally due to their fully equipped navigation system.

He said visibility had improved to 1,000 meters on Thursday afternoon in Medan and that was why there was no need to alter flight schedules there.

Over the next few weeks, the thick haze is expected to ease as rain is due, he said.

The smoke blanketing Medan has been blamed for a collision between KM Curug Mas cargo boat, carrying containers from Singapore, and a dredger, the Flores, on Tuesday.

The collision disrupted sea traffic along the Belawan coast before the ill-fated cargo vessel was towed away two hours later.

Hundreds of hot spots were detected in forests and cropland in Sumatra, primarily in the province of Riau, sending thick smoke across the island over the past several days.

In the Riau town of Dumai, local officials said visibility was limited to between 50 meters and 100 meters on Thursday.

Dumai Mayor Wan Syamsir Yus said many residents wore masks as the thick smoke had threatened their health and safety.

"Today (Thursday) the town of Dumai is dark because sunshine cannot penetrate the smoky haze," he told Antara.

Environmentalists in Riau urged the local administration to temporarily close schools until conditions improve, while health officials in Medan admitted that the thick haze has led to more people suffering from respiratory problems.