Jakarta Flights Cancelled Following Eruption of Anak Krakatau Volcano

TEHRAN (Defapress) - Indonesia’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the National Disaster Management Authority announced the emergency closure of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Sunday, September 6, 2026, suspending all arriving and departing flights from the capital. The decision was prompted by the intense eruption of Anak Krakatau and the dense volcanic ash clouds spreading across the Sunda Strait.

According to the latest data from the Centre for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG), the eruption, which began late Friday, reached its peak intensity early Sunday morning. Dense, light-ash clouds blowing eastward dropped visibility in Java and Banten airspace to a few hundred meters, posing severe risks to aircraft engines. So far, over 210 domestic and international flights have been cancelled, leaving more than 25,000 travelers stranded across the capital's major airport terminals.

The National Disaster Management Authority (BNPB) raised the alert level to Level 3 (Siaga) for the volcanic area and expanded the exclusion zone around Anak Krakatau's crater to a 5-kilometer radius. Local authorities in Jakarta have begun distributing face masks to the public, advising residents to stay indoors until the ashfall subsides.

While the memory of the volcano’s 2018 eruption, which caused a flank collapse, an underwater landslide, and a deadly tsunami that claimed over 430 lives, has raised severe public concern, officials from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) stressed that no significant seabed displacement or immediate tsunami threats have been recorded so far. Nevertheless, emergency response teams and coastal patrols along the shores of Sumatra and Java remain on high alert.