Garuda adds 5 extra flights after fire

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said on Monday that it had prepared five additional flights for passengers caught in delays and cancellations following a fire at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport’s Terminal 2E on Sunday morning.

“We aim for all flights leaving this morning,” Garuda spokesperson Ikhsan Rosan said as quoted by tempo.co

The additional flights will serve five routes from Jakarta to Batam, Riau; Jakarta to Semarang, Central Java; Jakarta to Pontianak, West Kalimantan; Jakarta to Surabaya, East Java and Jakarta to Denpasar, Bali.

“We will also operate two wide-body planes, Boeing 747-400s, to carry passengers to Surabaya and Depansar,” Ikhsan added.

Ikhsan admitted there were still several flights that were delayed until early this morning.

“We put them [the passengers] up in hotels,” he said.

He gave an assurance that the extra flights would not disrupt other regular flights.

“Today’s flights will run normally as scheduled,” he said.

A fire broke out in a VIP lounge at the airport on Sunday morning, causing disruption to departures and arrivals.

Airport police suspect the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit in the lounge.