TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - AirNav Indonesia suggested airlines to keep away from erupting Mount Raung as far as 50 kilometers as the volcanic ash of the mount reached an altitude of 15,000 feet.
“No airplane should be allowed near Mount Raung peak. Airplanes must keep their distance as far as 30 nautical mile or 50 kilometers,” AirNav director of safety and standard Wisnu Darjono said at the Transportation Ministry on Saturday, July 4, 2015.
The mount’s volcanic ash headed southwest with at 10 knots per hour. Wisnu said that airplanes would be exposed to the volcanic ash as long as they fly over 15,000 feet.
AirNav was concerned that the domestic and international flight routes could be affected by the eruption. According to Wisnu, the domestic routes, including those of Denpasar-Yogyakarta, Denpasar-Jakarta and Denpasar-Surabaya could be affected by the incident.
“The international routes that need to be watched closely are Denpasar-Singapore and Denpasar-Malaysia,” Wisnu said.
However, Wisnu explained that several airlines, such as Garuda, Lion Air, Chatay Pacific and China Airlines continued their operations. Meanwhile Jestar Airlines and Virgin Blue their flights serving Denpasar-Perth on July 4-5, 2015.
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