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)