Volcanic Ash Grounded 341,000 Travelers. Indonesia Just Reopened Every Airport

Keypoints:

• All eight airports closed by Mount Anak Krakatau's eruption reopened by September 8
• The eruption disrupted nearly 3,000 flights and affected roughly 341,000 passengers
• Jakarta's main international airport, Soekarno-Hatta, resumed operations shortly after midnight
• 178 grounded planes still need airworthiness checks before returning to service
• Ash from three other Indonesian volcanoes continued disrupting some flights days later

Indonesia reopened all eight airports shut down by ash from Mount Anak Krakatau, restoring air travel after an eruption that disrupted 2,961 flights and affected roughly 341,000 passengers. Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, the country's main international gateway, resumed operations shortly after midnight Tuesday, followed by seven other airports across western Indonesia.

The volcano, sitting in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra, produced a continuous 25-hour eruption that ended Sunday, though smaller eruptions kept occurring afterward and officials say further activity remains likely. 

Authorities tested runways and surrounding areas for ash before clearing each airport to reopen, and kept the volcano at Alert level with a 3-kilometer exclusion zone around its active center.

The disruption wasn't limited to flight delays. About 178 planes sat grounded at Soekarno-Hatta during the closure and now need airworthiness inspections before returning to service, since volcanic ash can damage jet engines even after a plane lands safely. One stranded traveler, headed to South Korea for work, told reporters he'd been sleeping on an airport bench for days waiting for his rescheduled flight.

The reopening didn't end Indonesia's volcanic troubles either. Days later, ash from three additional volcanoes, including Mount Ili Lewotolok, whose plume reached 8,000 feet, disrupted flights in a different part of the archipelago, a reminder that Indonesia's dense cluster of active volcanoes makes this kind of disruption a recurring risk rather than a single isolated event.