Indonesia's Mutiara Sis Al Jufri airport in Palu resumed limited operations on 30 September, after the town and its surrounding regions suffered from an earthquake and tsunami on 28 September.
While commercial flights can continue to operate, priority is given to emergency, search and rescue, as well as humanitarian operations due to limited parking capacity. Flights can only be conducted under visual flight rules for now, says the country's air navigation services provider AirNav Indonesia on its Twitter account.
Coordinating minister for political, legal, and security affairs Wiranto was quoted in a statement from the state secretariat as saying that around 500m of the airport's 2,500m runway 15/33 suffered cracks. A video posted on the Indonesian air force Twitter account showed the cracks happening at the end of runway 33.
Indonesia's air force Twitter account, @_TNUAU
On its end, the transport ministry says efforts are being made the rehabilitate Palu's airport and seaport, in order to facilitate the movement of aid into the region.
FlightGlobal schedules data shows that Palu is linked to nine cities, including Balikpapan, Jakarta, Makassar, and Surabaya. In terms of seat capacity offered during September, Lion Air Group carriers Batik Air, Lion Air, and Wings Air are the largest operators.
The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics states that the first earthquake happened at 15.00 local time on 28 September, affecting the town of Donggala, located 72.5km north of Palu.
Several aftershocks happened in the subsequent hours, before a far stronger aftershock took place at 18.02 local time. This caused a tsunami that hit Palu.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
