Indonesia's Minangkabau International Airport (BIM) has temporarily suspended flights due to the impact of volcanic ash emitted by another Mount Marapi eruption.

Footage from March 28 shows hundreds of passengers waiting around at the airport.

Flights were suspended as the ash could enter the cabin, clog the airspeed monitoring system, and it can also cause the runway to become slippery.

The Region VI Airport Authority Office temporarily closed operations at Minangkabau International Airport (BIM) due to the impact of the spread of volcanic ash from the eruption of Mount Marapi in Agam and Tanah Datar Regencies, West Sumatra.

Head of the Regional VI Airport Authority Office, Megi H. Helmiadi in Padang, said on Thursday that the temporary closure was to anticipate various matters, especially those concerning the safety aspects of flights to and from the airport.

The policy for closing the airport in Padang Pariaman Regency refers to the results of observations of the distribution of volcanic ash from Mount Marapi, as well as a Notice to Airmen (Notam), or a kind of notification numbered B0536/24 NOTAMR B0535/24.

The steps to close BIM were carried out taking into account the safety aspects of airplane passengers. Because if the flight continues, volcanic ash has the potential to enter the aircraft cabin.

Then another bad impact is that volcanic ash can clog the air speed monitoring system, which is an important part of flying and landing. Furthermore, it can interfere with navigation and other electronic systems.

Not only that, the spread of volcanic ash also causes the runway to become slippery, endangering take-off activities and when the plane is about to land. Lastly, volcanic ash can damage the function of the engine (turbine compressor) on an aircraft, thereby reducing efficiency.

SOT: MEGI H. HELMIADI, HEAD OF REGION VI AIRPORT AUTHORITY OFFICE
TC: 03.21–04.15

"Starting at 10.00 WIT until 14.00 WIT, because the distribution of volcanic ash had reached BIM airport earlier. If we pay attention to the eruption starting at midnight last night, it was quite loud, where there were two fairly loud eruptions. The wind direction was from the northeast to the southwest, so "At 09.00, 09.45, and 10.45, it was proven through paper tests that the distribution of volcanic ash had reached Bim airport and was quite thick too."