Eight Indonesian airports remain shut due to volcanic ash from Anak Krakatau
Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport will remain closed until 6pm local time.
Stranded passengers at terminal as Soekarno Hatta International Airport closed its operations due to the eruption of the Mount Anak Krakatau volcano, in Tangerang, near Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sep 6, 2026. (File photo: Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
JAKARTA: Eight Indonesian airports, including two serving Jakarta, remained closed early on Monday (Sep 7) because of volcanic ash from eruptions of Mount Anak Krakatau, the transport minister said.
Ash from Anak Krakatau, which sits halfway between Java and Sumatra islands, has blanketed Jakarta and several surrounding areas since it erupted late on Friday, leading to the closure of the airports for safety reasons.
"We cannot ascertain when this will end due to the dynamic weather," Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said in a statement on Monday, adding that the eight airports, which included the ones serving Jakarta's nearby provinces of Lampung and West Java, would remain closed until at least 8.59am (9.59am, Singapore time).
Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport subsequently posted on Instagram that flight operations would remain suspended until 6pm local time.
Singapore Airlines is among the airlines affected, with 18 flights cancelled on Monday. Another flight on early Tuesday departing Jakarta was also cancelled.
The transport ministry said 170,000 people have been affected by flight cancellations.
The volcano monitoring agency's website showed the most recent Anak Krakatau eruption occurred Sunday at 8.23pm.
SIA flights cancelled on Sep 7
SINGAPORE TO JAKARTA
· SQ950 departing at 6.20am
· SQ952 departing at 7.40am
· SQ956 departing at 9.05am
· SQ958 departing at 12.35pm
· SQ960 departing at 3.10pm
· SQ962 departing at 4.15pm
· SQ964 departing at 5.20pm
· SQ966 departing at 6.30pm
· SQ968 departing at 9.55pm
JAKARTA TO SINGAPORE
· SQ951 departing at 5.25am
· SQ953 departing at 8.05am
· SQ955 departing at 9.25am
· SQ957 departing at 11am
· SQ959 departing at 2.20pm
· SQ961 departing at 5pm
· SQ963 departing at 6.05pm
· SQ965 departing at 7.20pm
· SQ967 departing at 8.15pm
The eruptions have seen ash reach as high as 6,000m on the Java side of the volcano and 15,000m on the Sumatra side and some parts of Banten province in Java, meteorological agency BMKG posted on its website.
On Sunday, the disaster agency called for people to wear masks while travelling outdoors due to the ash. In Jakarta and Lampung, schools will use remote learning to counter health risks for students, state news agency Antara reported.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent.
Anak Krakatau, which means child of Krakatau, began emerging a century ago from the area previously occupied by Krakatau, then known as Krakatoa. The older volcano destroyed itself in mass eruptions in 1883, which killed more than 36,000 people in a series of tsunamis.
