JAKARTA, INDONESIA — Indonesia extended closures at seven airports through 11:59 p.m. Monday as ash from Anak Krakatau continued to threaten aviation, keeping Jakarta’s main international gateway shut while airlines diverted some services to alternative airports.
Indonesia kept seven airports closed through late Monday, September 7, after volcanic ash from Anak Krakatau disrupted aviation across western Indonesia, extending a shutdown that has affected Jakarta's main international gateway and hundreds of thousands of passengers.
Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi said the closures would remain in effect until 11:59 p.m. local time as authorities took a conservative approach to aviation safety. The ministry identified the seven as Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Radin Inten II, Budiarto, Halim Perdanakusuma, Pondok Cabe, Muhammad Taufiq Kiemas and Husein Sastranegara.
Reuters reported that about 341,000 travelers and 2,961 flights had been affected by cancellations or delays since the eruption began late Friday.
The disruption has forced airlines and aviation authorities to reorganize operations around one of Southeast Asia's busiest metropolitan areas, with alternative airports being used where conditions allow.
Soekarno-Hatta will remain closed until at least 11:59 p.m.
The closure of Soekarno-Hatta, Jakarta's principal international airport, was extended several times Monday as aviation authorities reassessed ash conditions.
AirNav Indonesia initially said a NOTAM kept Soekarno-Hatta and Halim Perdanakusuma closed until an estimated 6 p.m. Monday. Later, AirNav issued NOTAM A3387/26, extending Soekarno-Hatta's closure from 5:33 p.m. until an estimated 11:59 p.m.
That distinction matters for travelers: 11:59 p.m. is the estimated end of the current closure period, not a guaranteed reopening time. AirNav said aeronautical information would continue to be updated as airspace conditions and the distribution of volcanic ash changed.
Transport Minister Dudy said authorities were being cautious because wind direction can change and officials wanted to make sure volcanic material had moved away from airports before allowing operations to resume.
Passengers scheduled to fly through Jakarta should therefore rely on their airline's current flight status rather than assuming normal operations will resume automatically at midnight.
Kertajati is taking diverted flights as airlines reorganize schedules
The Transport Ministry has prepared alternative airports to preserve some connectivity while airports exposed to the ash remain unavailable.
Kertajati International Airport in Majalengka, West Java, is among those being used. The ministry said Garuda Indonesia had already landed there and that flights arriving from Jeddah and Amsterdam were also expected to use Kertajati on Monday.
The ministry said four flight services had shifted to Kertajati, illustrating the practical limits of an airport closure: some journeys can be redirected, but diversions do not immediately replace the capacity or connections normally available through Soekarno-Hatta.
Travelers whose flights are diverted may consequently face changes to ground transportation, onward connections and arrival arrangements even when their flight itself is able to operate.
Official notices reveal a discrepancy in the number of closed airports
There is an important discrepancy between two official sources over the total number of airports under late-Monday restrictions.
The Transport Ministry's latest statement says seven airports are closed through 11:59 p.m. and specifically names Soekarno-Hatta, Radin Inten II, Budiarto, Halim Perdanakusuma, Pondok Cabe, Muhammad Taufiq Kiemas and Husein Sastranegara.
AirNav's published NOTAM updates, however, create a different count.
A separate AirNav notice extends Soekarno-Hatta through 11:59 p.m. Another AirNav notice lists seven additional airports as closed through the same estimated time: Halim Perdanakusuma, Radin Inten II, Husein Sastranegara, Budiarto, Pondok Cabe, Muhammad Taufiq Kiemas and Salakanagara Tanjung Lesung.
Taken together, those AirNav notices identify eight airports, while the Transport Ministry's later summary identifies seven and does not include Salakanagara Tanjung Lesung.
The difference should not be silently reconciled. For the main traveler-facing count, this article uses the Transport Ministry's latest figure of seven while noting that AirNav's individual NOTAM information indicates an eighth facility. Travelers using smaller airports should check the latest NOTAM and operator information directly.
Nearly 3,000 flights have been disrupted
The scale of the interruption extends well beyond individual airport closures.
Reuters reported approximately 341,000 affected passengers and 2,961 flights, including cancellations and delays. That works out to an average of roughly 115 affected travelers per disrupted flight, a newsroom calculation using the Reuters figures. The calculation is illustrative and is not an official passenger-load statistic.
The consequences extend through domestic and international networks because Soekarno-Hatta is Jakarta's primary global gateway. A closure there can leave aircraft and crews out of position even after ash restrictions are lifted, meaning reopening the runway and restoring the published airline schedule are not necessarily simultaneous events.
For passengers, the practical priorities are to check flight status directly with the operating carrier, confirm the actual departure or arrival airport, and verify onward ground transport before traveling to an airport.
Volcanic ash presents a different hazard from ordinary bad weather
The prolonged restrictions reflect the particular danger volcanic ash poses to aircraft.
Ash can affect aircraft engines and other systems, meaning airport and airspace decisions depend not simply on whether an eruption has stopped but on where the ash is present and how winds move it.
AirNav said its closures were mitigation measures based on the distribution of Anak Krakatau's volcanic ash and that it would continue monitoring both the airspace and plume.
The European Union's Copernicus programme documented Anak Krakatau's elevated activity earlier this year. A Sentinel-2 image acquired July 2 showed an ash plume drifting from the volcano after Indonesian authorities raised its alert status to Level III, the second-highest level in the country's four-tier system.
Reuters reported Monday that ash from the latest eruption had reached altitudes of up to 50,000 feet in some areas and that further eruptions remained possible.
Travelers should watch the next NOTAMs rather than the clock
The most important next milestone is not simply 11:59 p.m. Monday but the next round of official aviation assessments.
AirNav's NOTAMs describe reopening times as estimates, and the Transport Ministry has tied the restrictions to safety conditions rather than promising an automatic reopening.
That means three developments will determine how quickly travel returns toward normal: updated observations of volcanic ash, new NOTAMs governing individual airports and airline decisions on when aircraft and crews can safely return to scheduled operations.
Even after an airport is cleared to reopen, travelers could continue to encounter cancellations, aircraft repositioning and schedule changes created during the shutdown.
For passengers booked through Jakarta or the affected parts of Java and Sumatra, the safest assumption is that published itineraries remain subject to change until both the airport and the operating airline confirm service.