Bandara Int`l Ngurah Rai Kembali Beroperasi setelah Dua Hari Ditutup
Indonesia Reopens Bali Airport after Two-day Closure
Editor : Cahyani Harzi
Translator : Dhelia Gani
BANDARA di Bali dibuka kembali pada Kamis, kata seorang pejabat, setelah dampak erupsi dari sebuah gunung berapi di dekatnya yang memaksa Kementerian Perhubungan RI untuk menutup terminal selama dua hari, mengakibatkan pembatalan ratusan jadwal penerbangan.
Tiupan angin membantu menghalau awan dari Gunung Rinjani, gunung berapi aktif di Pulau Lombok, menjauhi Bandara Internasional Ngurah Rai, membersihkan langit di atas Bali untuk pertama kalinya hari ini.
"Bandara dibuka kembali pada pukul 14:30 waktu setempat," kata Kepala Bandara Yulfriadi Gona kepada AFP yang dilansir MailOnline.
"Angin menuju ke selatan dan barat daya, yang berarti abu vulkanik tidak lagi menuju ke Bali."
Bandara ditutup sejak Selasa malam, dan pejabat Kemenhub awalnya memerintahkan tetap menutup bandara sampai Jumat pagi.
Namun dengan membaiknya kondisi udara sepanjang Kamis mendorong Badan Meteorologi, Klimatologi dan Geofisika (BMKG) mengeluarkan rekomendasi aman bagi penerbangan sehari lebih awal dari prediksi sebelumnya, kata Gona.
Hampir 700 penerbangan, termasuk 320 rute internasional, dibatalkan antara Selasa dan Kamis.
BALI AIRPORT reopened Thursday, an official said, after ash erupting from a nearby volcano forced Indonesian authorities to close the terminal for two days, grounding hundreds of flights.
Favourable winds blew an ash cloud from Mount Rinjani, an active volcano on nearby Lombok island, away from Ngurah Rai International Airport, clearing the skies above Bali for the first time in days.
"The airport reopened at 2:30pm (0630GMT) Bali time," airport chief official Yulfriadi Gona told AFP.
"The wind is heading to the south and southwest, which means the volcanic ash is no longer heading to Bali."
The airport has been closed since late Tuesday, and officials initially ordered it remain shut until at least Friday morning.
But as conditions improved throughout Thursday the national meteorological agency ruled it safe for flights to resume earlier than expected, Gona said.
Nearly 700 flights, including 320 international ones, were cancelled between Tuesday and Thursday.
