Jakarta Area Airports Closed Due to Volcanic Activity

[Quickstatus]

This is always what scares me about doing a positioning flight somewhere with a separate ticket to Europe - mind you I guess my outbound flight wouldn't be going anywhere either

Agree - sort of like positioning for a cruise.

While outbounds are also affected, I would prefer to be at the port.
I guess as @Melburnian1 what is your risk/reward profile.....

 

[AuSammy]

Media reporting more than 150,000 travellers effected so far.

 

[Scarlett]

All airports in the vicinity of the eruption remain closed until 1800 local (2100 AEDT). However, there is some good news just starting on IDN social media.

Ash has stopped falling in Jakarta and the natural disaster agency just reported to the President that it is now clear over Jakarta.

Then there’s this latest update from FR24

 

[Scarlett]

Also note that QF have NOT (yet) cancelled tomorrow’s QF41 flight SYD-CGK.

They’ve sent me an sms and email noting they’re closely monitoring the situation.

 

[Scarlett]

Dammit. The IDN authorities have decided to keep the airports closed until next review at 2359 local. Guess I’ll find out what’s what on my early morning start from CBR.

They’re acting out of an abundance of caution and so that they can clean the runways and taxiways.

 

[Scarlett]

CGK has reopened as of 0001 in Jakarta. (0300 AEDT)

I’m sure it will be a madhouse as they try to clear backlogs of pax and aircraft.

 

[Flyfrequently]

You must be relieved @Scarlett - enjoy your trips ️

 

[PaulyB]

You must be relieved @Scarlett - enjoy your trips ️

Not so sure how much relief there will be just yet. We have friends booked in QF41 and its very unlikely they will be going anywhere....

 

[Melburnian1]

Not so sure how much relief there will be just yet. We have friends booked in QF41 and its very unlikely they will be going anywhere....

@PaulyB @Scarlett given there must be more than 200,000 passengers adversely affected, how many days do you estimate it will take to clear the backlog?

Some only visiting friends or relatives may cancel trips and seek a refund, but my guess is the vast majority still want to travel.

Given many flights would have been booked to between 80 and 95 per cent if not a higher percentage of available seats, surely it isn't easy to deal with this for airlines?

 

[PaulyB]

@PaulyB @Scarlett given there must be more than 200,000 passengers adversely affected, how many days do you estimate it will take to clear the backlog?

Some only visiting friends or relatives may cancel trips and seek a refund, but my guess is the vast majority still want to travel.

Given many flights would have been booked to between 80 and 95 per cent if not a higher percentage of available seats, surely it isn't easy to deal with this for airlines?

Well actually I was just heard from them that they are checked in an ready to go . They were booked today so would have had priority but I would assume Q would arrange extra flights. They may even be able to get on a codeshare flight which goes via Dubai but that would maybe include an extra cost. Stuff like this is NEVER easy for the airlines or anyone!! Could be a week of delays?

 

[elanshin]

@PaulyB @Scarlett given there must be more than 200,000 passengers adversely affected, how many days do you estimate it will take to clear the backlog?

Some only visiting friends or relatives may cancel trips and seek a refund, but my guess is the vast majority still want to travel.

Given many flights would have been booked to between 80 and 95 per cent if not a higher percentage of available seats, surely it isn't easy to deal with this for airlines?

This is just "regular" service recovery after a few days off. It'll take a probably a week generally clear but by next week I'd surmise it's probably back to normal.

The bulk of the passengers will almost certainly be domestic or regional of which there likely are alternatives just perhaps not as convenient (think instead of flying SYD-MEL you're now on a train or bus or maybe driving and in Indonesia's case on a boat).

Every airline pushes to be 100 % capacity, ask if passengers will accept downgrades to goto destination asap and it'll start clearing reasonably.

Of course doesn't make it any less inconvenient for the traveller.

 

[Scarlett]

@Melburnian1 I’ll let you know what CGK is like when I get there tonight.

Domestic flights have been bursting out of CGK all morning. Many will have cancelled or rescheduled. The IDN govt was saying about 60K pax disrupted. Also, they put on extra trains on Java to get people in and out of the capital from other major cities not affected by shutdowns. The other major thing they did was (re)open their white elephant airport of Kertajati about 150KM east of Jakarta. Garuda flew two B777s (that I saw on FR24) from cities in Sumatra to that airport. The govt had organised busses to take pax from there into Jakarta.

Natural disasters are pretty common in Indonesia and the people are quite adept at working around problems associated with them. They’re resilient and flexible. I’m not really expecting it to be too bad after the first day.

The bigger issue is what happens when the wind direction changes or the eruption activity picks up again…

 

[Scarlett]

QF41 into Jakarta no problems.

The arrivals area is a little bit busier but CGK always has busy periods. Certainly nothing out of the usual: no long queues seen anywhere.