Wings Air Stops Banjarmasin-Muara Teweh Route Due To Smoke

MUARA TEWEH - Wings Air airline temporarily suspended flights from the Muara Teweh route, Central Kalimantan to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan due to smog.

"According to a letter from the airline, the Muara Teweh - Banjarmasin flights were temporarily suspended from Thursday (5/10) to Sunday (8/10) due to weather conditions due to increasingly thick smog," said Head of Haji Muhammad Sidik Airport, Endang Setiawan in Muara Teweh, quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, October 4.

According to him, the flight was stopped because of Haji Muhammad Sidik Airport because in recent weeks the visibility was only 2,000 to 3,000 meters, while the visibility required was about 5,000 meters.

"Even today, the visibility in the airport area is only 700 meters," said Endang.

Flight from Syamsudin Noor Airport Banjarbaru, South Kalimantan to Haji Muhammad Sidik Muara Teweh Airport round and round using an ATR 72-600 aircraft.

In addition to Wings Air, Haji Muhammad Sidik Airport also serves pioneering flights on the Muara Teweh - Tjilik Riwut Airport Palangka Raya PP route by Smart Aviation airlines using Cessa aircraft with 12 passengers every Tuesday and Thursday.

"The pioneering flight of Muara Teweh - Palangka Raya using the airline has no flights because there are aircraft repairs from Monday (2/10) to Saturday (7/10)," he said.

The halting of flights to Muara Teweh forced a number of residents to use land roads to Banjarmasin with a travel time of about 9-10 hours, while to Palangka Raya, the capital city of Central Kalimantan took about 7 hours.

"We hope that the fog will disappear soon and the weather will improve, so that flights to this area return to normal," said Endang Setiawan.

Acting (Pj) Regent of North Barito, Muhammad has issued a Circular Letter dated October 3, 2023 Number: 660.32/1152/DLH regarding the anticipation of smog.

In a circular, the Regent of Muhlism said that the thickness of the smog that occurred in the North Barito Regency area had an impact on the quality of Ambient air and based on air quality monitoring data carried out by the Environmental Service, the air quality was in the unhealthy category and had a negative impact on human health.

Related to this, the relevant parties and all levels of society are advised. The Head of the Health Service was asked to distribute masks to the community and make reports regarding residents affected by ISPA disease during the smog incident.

The head of the North Barito Regency Education Office was also asked to arrange the schedule for learning hours in schools or if necessary to be closed for a while.

"To all citizens, to use masks when doing outdoor activities and reduce outdoor activities for things that are less important," said Muhlis in the circular.