Fire In The Runway Area Disrupts Flights At El Tari Kupang Airport

A grass fire near the runway of El Tari Kupang airport. (ANTARA)

KUPANG - Management of PT Angkasa Pura (AP) I Kupang El Tari Airport stated that grass fires near the airport runway area resulted in delays in the departure of two aircraft to Surabaya and Denpasar due to thick smoke.

"The grass fire occurred at around 12.30 WITA earlier in the southern part of the El Tari Airport runway, but the wind blew north so that smoke headed for the runway," said Public Relations of El Tari Kupang Airport Devi Budihandayani, quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, June 13.

This was conveyed in connection with grass fires in the plane runway area which caused thick smoke in the El Tari Kupang Airport area.

He explained that two planes, namely Garuda Indonesia with the aim of Surabaya and Lion Air, to I Gusti Ngurah Ray Denpasar Airport, experienced flight delays of about 45 minutes, waiting for the blackout carried out by firefighters at El Tari Airport.

Garuda Indonesia airline, he continued, should have departed at 13.45 WITA, but due to the problem of the plane's thick smoke, it was only possible to depart at 14:40 WITA. Meanwhile, Lion Air, which was supposed to depart at 13.30 WITA, could only depart at 14:46 WITA.

Devi added that fires that occur in airport areas often occur during the dry season with quite high hot weather. He also admitted that the potential for fires was quite high on the shoulder of the runway.

"So that we as airport managers have routinely mitigated grass cuttings on all sides of the runway and increased the alertness of firefighters," he said.

Furthermore, he said the same fire had also occurred in 2022 in the same month, so his party always anticipates this.

Regarding the grass fires in the international airport area, Devi said that currently the fire had been extinguished and the smoke was no longer there.

"The operation of El Tari Kupang Airport has also been running normally and safely," he said.