Super Air Jet Delay In A Row, Passengers Destination For West Sumatra Are Delayed For Dozens Of Hours

JAKARTA - Hundreds of Super Air Jet passengers bound for Padang were forced to wait for up to tens of hours at Terminal 2 of Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang, Banten, Wednesday, December 3, due to the delay in successive flights on the Jakarta IU-810 route.

The flight, which was originally scheduled to depart at 13.05 WIB, was first postponed to 18.10 WIB. Passengers still accept the decision because the airline is considered to often experience delays.

However, tensions began to be felt when the departure schedule was changed again to 20.40 WIB. The passengers who packed the Gate E4 area asked for clarity because there was no further announcement regarding flight certainty.

"I was given Rp. 300 thousand for compensation, but it is still unclear what time the departure was," said Seno, one of the passengers, quoted by Antara.

Entering 23.30 WIB, passengers received information that they would depart via Gate E5. They then rushed to change gates. But shortly after the queue was formed, officers announced that the flight was canceled on the grounds that Minangkabau International Airport was operationally closed.

This condition sparked the anger of passengers who claimed to have waited too long without clarity.

"I've been here since 10 am and had to be postponed until this morning, it's crazy," Mia said, one of the passengers.

The same thing was conveyed by Fatima, a mother who wanted to go home to visit her family who was affected by the flood in Padang. He admitted that he was very tired and disappointed because there was no certainty about his departure.

Airport officials then promised that passengers would depart the next day, Thursday, at around 04.30 WIB and passengers were given additional compensation of Rp. 300 thousand.

Based on the Regulation of the Minister of Transportation Number 89 of 2015, airlines are obliged to provide compensation to passengers due to delays caused by airline management and non-technical operation (NTO) factors.

The rules include providing drinks, snacks, heavy meals, and compensation of IDR 300 thousand for delays of more than 240 minutes, as well as flight diversion or full refund of ticket fees in the event of cancellation.