Jakarta airport runway damage affects haj flight

JAKARTA. A haj flight was moved from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, on Friday because of a section of damaged runway measuring 3 by 2 meters and 25 centimeters in depth.

The runway at the East Jakarta airport was reportedly damaged after a wide-body aircraft carrying 393 haj pilgrims, the first of three haj flights scheduled for departure at the airport, successfully took off on Friday morning. Runway repairs lasted for about three hours starting at 9:00 a.m., kompas.com reported.

Transportation Ministry spokesperson JA Barata said that a second haj flight scheduled to take off at 12:00 p.m. that day from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport was moved to Soekarno-Hatta airport and rescheduled at 1:05 p.m. to avoid delays.

The last haj flight would depart from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport as planned because the repairs had been completed, Barata said.

Activities at the airport returned to normal at around 2 p.m., after the runway was repaired. (vny)