TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Heavy showers and thick fog which has enveloped Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, has forced the cancellation of several flights in and out of Kupang's El Tari Airport on Friday, March 6, 2015 - causing several delays and incidents of aborted landings.
Among the flights which were forced to abort their landing procedure include a Garuda Indonesia en-route to Kupang from Jakarta via Denpasar, which was forced to divert and land at Makassar's Hasanuddin Airport instead. It is also known that a Kupang-bound Lion Air flight from Jakarta via Surabaya was forced to stay in a holding pattern above Kupang Regency for around one hour before it was cleared to land at the airport.
Angkasa Pura's Duty Manager for Kupang's El Tari Airport, Gabriel Keraf said that the aircrafts encountered difficulties at take-offs and landings because of the poor visibility conditions, which fluctuated around the 1 kilometre range. "Disruptions began since around 10.00 Central Indonesia Time," said Keraf.
It is also known that a Wings Air flight was forced to cancel its' flights to Umbu Mehang Kunda in Waingapu, East Sumba, and Turulelo Airport in Ngada. "We had to cancel those flights due to adverse weather conditions," said Lion Air's District Manager for Kupang, Eduardus Erik.
Erik said that Lion Air plans to dispatch an aircraft to Gawanan Tanah Airport in East Flores once visibility clears. Candra Dethan, a Wings Air passenger who was supposed to board Wings Air flight IW1922 between Waingapu and Kupang, said that Lion Air - which operates the route - has not paid out any compensation for passengers who are affected by the cancellation.
According to civil air regulation, passengers should have been compensated Rp300,000 per person. Instead, passengers were given one night accommodation until the next flight departs on the next day. "Compensations should've been paid out because the delay have exceeded four hours," said Dethan.
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