Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin Airport Has An Important Role In New Year's Holidays, Becomes An Emergency Landing Location

Executive General Manager of SMB II Palembang Airport, R Iwan Winata (Photo via Antara)

JAKARTA - Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin (SMB) II Airport Palembang, South Sumatra has become the destination for an emergency landing of aircraft or alternative aerodrome during the 2022 Christmas and 2023 New Year travel periods.

Executive General Manager of SMB II Palembang Airport, R Iwan Winata explained, there were three aircraft that made emergency landings at SMB II Palembang Airport.

The three planes carried domestic flight passengers from Denpasar (Bali), Pekanbaru (Riau), and Makassar (South Sulawesi) to Soekarno-Hatta Airport (Jakarta).

According to him, each pilot of the plane was forced to make a decision to make an emergency landing at SMB II Palembang Airport due to bad weather in Jakarta, on Friday, December 30, 2022 morning.

The plot carrying crew and passengers at SMB II Airport was not more than 60 minutes. After, the weather in Jakarta, which experienced the storm, was conducive, they continued their journey and landed safely at Soekarno-Hatta Airport," said R Iwan Winata at the Curbside terminal of the arrival of SMB II Palembang Airport, Wednesday, January 4.

According to him, bad weather conditions have indeed become an issue trend in the Christmas and New Year's journey this period, as predicted by the local Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

However, he stated that overall flight services at SMB II Palembang Airport during that period went smoothly according to the standard operating standards set.

Meanwhile, his party noted that there were 814 aircraft movements carrying 109,274 domestic flight passengers during the Christmas and New Year trips which took place December 19, 2022 January 3, 2023.

The number of passengers at SMB II Airport has increased by about 77 percent compared to during the Christmas and New Year's journey for the 2021 period.

The highest peak occurred on December 23, 2022, with a total of 8,373 passengers or as many as 55 aircraft movements. This also exceeds the number of passengers traveling Eid al-Fitr yesterday," he said, quoted from Antara.

According to him, the increase in the number of passengers occurred due to the current relaxation of flight trips after being affected by COVID-19.

On the other hand, by looking at the gradually improving conditions, he hopes that the government will reopen international flights directly at SMB II Palembang Airport in 2023.

"We hope so, but in principle we continue to try our best to provide the best service to the community in whatever conditions must be faced," he added.