Tabing Airport opens nighttime flights

Tabing Airport opens nighttime flights

JAKARTA (JP): After nearly two weeks of isolation, West
Sumatra was again open to air transportation as Padang's Tabing
Airport was opened yesterday evening.

The head of the province's transportation office Martunus Said
told Antara that visibility around the airport was 3,600 meters
in the evening or much better than the morning and afternoon
visibility of just 400 to 2,000 meters.

"To restore air transportation services at Tabing Airport, we
will from now on operate at night, ending more than two weeks of
isolation," Martunus said.

Tabing Airport had been closed since Oct. 14 as visibility
dropped to almost zero. Forest fires in the neighboring provinces
of Jambi and South Sumatra had been blamed for the resulting
thick haze.

The haze from brush and forest fires has severely disrupted
operations at many airports in Sumatra and Kalimantan.

Yesterday's decision to open the airport for evening flights
was backed by the local office of the Meteorology and Geophysics
Agency.

An official at the agency said his office agreed that the
airport could operate at night.

"This is a better step than having to wait for this situation
(to return to normal), because West Sumatra has suffered quite
big losses as a result of the haze," he said.

In Pekanbaru, Riau, Simpang Tiga Airport remained closed
yesterday, extending the shutdown which began last week.

The city as a whole remained hazy as visibility remained less
than 500 meters.

Despite aid from an international contingent, the brush and
forest fires have not been entirely put out. And the fires
continue as the drought continues to drag along.

Many predict that it will be the rain, which fell in some
parts of the country this weekend, which will finally douse the
fires.

There were hopeful signs the past couple of days as rains
began to pour in some parts of the country. Officials here
predict that the rainy season could start within a month.

But United Nations climate experts in Geneva were foreboding
and said rains in Indonesia were likely to be suppressed further
by the strong El Nio weather phenomenon.

The El Nio phenomenon is a warming of the Pacific Ocean that
has wreaked havoc to global weather.

Reuters quoted climate scientists as warning that Indonesia
should prepare for the worst.

"In Indonesia, rains could be suppressed for the next three
months," Mike Coughlan, a senior climatologist at the World
Meteorological Organization, said.

"That is the worst-case scenario. We have to consider the
worst-case scenario, but we are not necessarily predicting that,"
Coughlan said.

Yet Coughlan said there was no sign of rain in scientific
projections.

"There is nothing to indicate at this point in time that there
would be any change in this pattern."

The ill winds of El Nio, blowing from east to west, are
facing off the rain-carrying monsoon weather pattern moving from
north to south, Coughlan said.

"We see a bit of a game -- the monsoon is attempting to spread
south, but the intensity of the El Nio pattern is blocking it,"
he said.

"It may be more and more difficult for monsoons to dominate
the El Nio pattern in Indonesia," Coughlan said. "The worst-case
scenario is that the El Nio pattern wins out." (aan)

Photo -- Page 2

Haze -- Page 5