KUCHING: The cancellation of flights to and from the Borneo island is necessary to ensure the safety of flight crews and passengers following the Mount Ruang volcanic eruption in Indonesia.
Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Datuk Seri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah said this is a precautionary measure by airline operators.
“I believe this will be temporary as we will have to wait for dusts and debris from the volcanic eruption to clear before it is safe for aircrafts to fly.
“Although the cancellation of flights may pose inconvenience to passengers, it is necessary for their own safety,” he said.
He made these remarks during the ‘Majlis Ramah Tamah Aidilfitri’ event hosted by the Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts and the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Entrepreneur Development at Penview Convention Centre (PCC) today.
Abdul Karim who is also the Minister of Youth, Sports, and Entrepreneur Development, said he was surprised to read about the volcanic eruption.
“I was quite surprised to see something like this happening not very far from Borneo because it is unexpected,” he said.
Mount Ruang is a stratovolcano located in North Sulawesi Provinc which was reported to erupt several times on Tuesday (Apr 16) and yesterday (Apr 17).
Authorities had raised the alert level to its highest point after the dome spewed a column of smoke more than 1.6 kilometres into sky which forced hundreds to evacuate.
Malaysia Airlines cancelled 19 flights today, and the airline is working to accommodate passengers affected by the flight cancellation on alternative flights once the situation progressively improved.
Passengers traveling on Malaysia Airlines have been urged to update their contact details via My Booking its website to receive timely updates from time to time via email and SMS.
Meanwhile, AirAsia has cancelled 16 flights today, and the airline is allowing passengers to make a one-time change to any new travel date within 30 days from the original departure date on the same route without additional costs with subject to seat availability.
AirAsia is also allowing affected passengers to retain the value of the flight booking in a credit account for future travel with the airline and it is to be redeemed within two years from the issuance date.
