Many Airlines Cancelled Flights Due To Mt Kelud Eruption

Jakarta, Feb 14 (Antara) - Many airlines operating nationally cancelled their flights because of the several airports in Java Island that are closed temporary due to the eruption Mount Kelud eruption. "Garuda Indonesia Airlines will return to fly to the closed airports once the authorities declares the airports open," stated Vice President of Corporate Communication of Garuda Indonesia, Pudjobroto, here on Friday. He added that Garuda Indonesia had cancelled flights to several airports namely Adisujipto Airport in Yogyakarta, Adisumarmo Airport in Solo, Juanda Airport in Surabaya, Ahmad Yani Airport in Semarang and Abdul Rachman Saleh Airport in Malang. Pudjobroto apologized to passengers who were affected due to the cancellations. He added that they should call Garuda Indonesia contact center for information. Meanwhile, the AirAsia Indonesia Airlines stated that the passengers from and to Surabaya and Yogyakarta can choose one of the two options to change the flight that were cancelled due to the eruption. AirAsia offered two options to the passengers. One, reschedule the flight on the same route upto maximum five days after cancellation for free or two, deposit the ticket amount and use it to purchase any AirAsia ticket within three months. "AirAsia has cancelled all flights from and to Surabaya and Yogyakarta for security and safety reasons, after the eruption of Mount Kelud caused volcanic ash rains in East Java and Central Java," elaborated President Director of AirAsia Indonesia Dharmadi. Eighteen AirAsia flights were cancelled namely Surabaya-Jakarta, Surabaya-Denpasar, Surabaya-Medan, Surabaya-Semarang, Surabaya-Bandung, Surabaya-Makassar, Surabaya-Bangkok, Surabaya-Johor Bahru, Surabaya-Kuala Lumpur, Surabaya-Penang, Surabaya-Singapore, Semarang-Singapore, Semarang-Kuala Lumpur, Yogyakarta-Jakarta, Yogyakarta-Bali, Yogyakarta-Kuala Lumpur, Yogyakarta-Singapore and Solo-Kuala Lumpur. Three airports in Java Island were forced to close temporarily due to the eruption of Mount Kelud. The volcanic ashes affected visibility and interfered with the flight schedules in some areas on Friday. "Juanda Airport in Surabaya, Adisumarmo Airport in Solo and Adisutjipto Airport in Yogyakarta were closed temporarily due to ash rains from the eruption of Mount Kelud," stated the Head of Data, Information and Public Relation Center of National Disaster Management Board (BNPB) Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. Based on the BNPB data, the ash rains have spread across various areas such as Kediri, Malang, Blitar, Surabaya, Ponorogo, Pacitan, Solo, Yogya, Boyolali, Magelang, Purworejo, Temanggung and Purwokerto.