Indonesia reopens Jakarta airports after Mount Anak Krakatau eruption grounds 341,000 travellers

Airport reopenings and fleet inspections

Indonesian transport authorities reopened five airports early on Tuesday after clearing runways and ground infrastructure of volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau. Operations resumed just after midnight at Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma in Jakarta, Husein Sastranegara in Bandung, and two regional airfields in Banten province. Three flights departed Soekarno-Hatta shortly after the reopening, including two commercial passenger services bound for eastern Indonesia. Although air quality tests at several facilities revealed no residual ash, authorities maintained closures long enough to clean runways, taxiways, and parked aircraft. Technicians conducted airworthiness checks on 178 planes grounded on the tarmac at Soekarno-Hatta during the shutdown. Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi explained that carrier schedules would return gradually as inspections concluded.

We are going to operate these planes, but before doing so, we want to ensure their airworthiness. This could therefore take a little more time.

Flight cancellations and passenger disruption

The transport disruption began on Sunday when aviation officials closed eight airports across western Indonesia due to drifting ash clouds. Infrastructure Minister Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono confirmed that the closures cancelled or delayed 2,961 flights, including 622 international services, and affected more than 341,000 passengers. More than 150,000 passengers were grounded on Sunday alone, with affected numbers reaching 270,000 by Monday before climbing past 341,000 on Tuesday. Stranded travellers, including passengers waiting in regional terminals like Malang in East Java, faced repeated rescheduling as terminal queues accumulated. Atung Bungsu airport in Pagar Alam resumed operations on Monday morning, but three regional facilities, including Radin Inten II in Lampung on southern Sumatra, remained closed until 10:00 AM on Tuesday.

We're taking a conservative approach because wind direction is highly dynamic. We want to ensure that volcanic ash has moved away from airports around Anak Krakatau.

Eruptive sequence at Mount Anak Krakatau

Mount Anak Krakatau, situated roughly 150 kilometres west of Jakarta in the Sunda Strait, began its latest eruptive phase on Saturday. The opening outburst generated lava fountains and explosive detonations heard up to 700 kilometres away, followed by two additional eruptions on Sunday. Continuous eruptive activity subsided late Sunday, though the volcano registered further activity on Tuesday morning, including measured events at 5:08 AM and 5:34 AM local time where ash column heights could not be visually determined. Lana Saria, the head of Indonesia's Geological Agency, confirmed that Tuesday's three small eruptions produced less force than Sunday's activity.

So far the impact is not as big as the previous eruptions, but we'll continue to monitor.

Geological setting and Pacific Ring of Fire

Anak Krakatau emerged in the early twentieth century inside the caldera left by the 1883 Krakatoa eruption, a disaster that caused an estimated 35,000 deaths. Indonesia sits directly on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a region of frequent volcanic eruptions and earthquakes caused by converging tectonic plates. The sprawling nation of over 17,000 islands contains more than 100 active volcanoes, the largest total of any country worldwide. Volcanic ash presents severe hazards to civil aviation because microscopic glass and mineral particles reduce flight visibility, abrade airframes, and cause engine failure. Aviation regulators and geological observers continue tracking local wind vectors and volcano activity to ensure clear air corridors across Java and Sumatra.