Radar malfunction delays Garuda flights

Radar malfunction delays Garuda flights

JAKARTA (JP): The radar system at Soekarno-Hatta International
airport malfunctioned again for an hour yesterday causing some
delays of domestic and international flights, an airline source
said.

An employee of Malaysia Airlines said one of its flights which
supposed to take off at 11 a.m. was delayed an hour because of
the radar malfunction.

The radar first malfunctioned Wednesday night after being
struck by lightning, causing long flight delays.

The system started malfunctioning at about 6 p.m. and resumed
working three hours later.

Although airline staff have confirmed the malfunction and
delays, none of the executives of state-owned firm PT Angkasa
Pura, which manages the airport, were able to give details.

Some of them even denied the radar system had failed and that
it had disrupted flights Wednesday and yesterday.

"There was no radar malfunction in this airport today
(Thursday) or yesterday (Wednesday). I just heard about it from
you," Asri, an officer in-charge, said yesterday.

Spokesman for the national carrier Garuda Indonesia, Arief
Hartanto, said at least 10 of its domestic and international
flights were delayed Wednesday due to the malfunction.

Arief said the flights were delayed between an hour and three
hours.

But no incoming Garuda flights were detoured to other airports
due to the radar problem Wednesday, he said.

"All the flights landed properly using manual landing
procedures," Arief said.

He could not estimate the cost of the delays but said Garuda
had provided extra meals to passengers whose flights were
delayed.

A Singapore Airlines employee had said earlier that one of its
flights which was supposed to depart at 8 p.m Wednesday was
delayed an hour due to the problem. (jun)