Jakarta airport and others reopen after volcanic ash crisis

Indonesia's main airport, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, and four other air travel hubs near Jakarta and Java have reopened after a volcanic eruption caused ash to disrupt air travel. Mount Anak Krakatau, located 150 kilometers from Jakarta, erupted on Saturday, causing lava fountains and ash plumes that forced eight airports to halt operations over the weekend. This left nearly 3,000 flights cancelled or delayed, stranding over 340,000 passengers.

Early Tuesday, the Transport Ministry announced on Instagram that Soekarno-Hatta Airport and the other four airports had resumed flight operations. The airports that have reopened include Halim Perdanakusuma in Jakarta, Hussein Sastranegara in Bandung, and a small airport in south Sumatra. However, two of the original eight airports remain closed.

International flights were particularly affected, with over 1,500 flights grounded and more than 170,000 passengers stranded. The airport had prepared six alternative airports as options for aircraft originally scheduled to land in Jakarta. Anak Krakatau, which means "Child of Krakatau," has been sporadically active since emerging from the sea at the beginning of the last century following the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatau.