Lion Air Batam-Padang Route Fails to Land Due to Bad Weather

BATAM - Lion Air airline route Batam City, Riau Archipelago to Padang City, West Sumatra failed to land at Minangkabau International Airport and returned to Hang Nadim International Airport due to bad weather.

"Lion Air flight JT-144 route from Hang Nadim International Airport, Batam to Padang via Minangkabau International Airport, West Sumatra on Thursday, December 27, landed again at the airport of origin to ensure flight safety", said Lion Air's Corporate Communications Department. , Danang Mandala Prihantoro quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, December 29.

According to him, the decision taken by the pilot of the aircraft was correct, as was the standard operating procedure to prioritize aspects of flight safety and security.

"At that time the weather conditions were not good at Minangkabau Airport, which did not meet the qualifications or requirements for flight operations (takeoff and landing), due to short visibility. Therefore, we chose to turn back for the safety of passengers", he said.

For now, he said, the plane had been flown again after the destination airport was declared safe for flights.

"We continue to communicate and coordinate with all parties involved in carrying out flight operations and services. We have also informed all passengers and will update according to the latest developments", he said.

Meanwhile, when contacted separately, one of the passengers on the plane, Syahril, said that at the time of the incident the plane was actually over Padang City, but because of bad weather, the plane returned to Batam.

"Earlier we were already at the city limits of Padang, kept circling and the plane continued to fly high. Not long after that, we were informed that the weather was bad and would land again in Batam", he said.

Syahril said that he had arrived in Padang safely after experiencing bad weather.

"Thank God, we arrived safely even though we failed to land earlier. Now you can land safely. We are now in Padang. We arrived in Padang around 14.10 WIB", he said.