Indonesia airports reopen after volcanic ash disrupts thousands of flights

Published On 8 Sep 20268 Sep 2026.

Key points

• The disruption affected more than 340, 000 travellers and approximately 2, 900 flights.
• The volcano erupted at least three times on Tuesday morning alone, according to the head of the national Geology Agency, Lana Saria.
• Indonesia has reopened its main airport in Jakarta and four others that had been closed ⁠due to volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau.
• Anak Krakatau, which had a major eruption on Saturday, sits in a strait between the islands of Java and Sumatra.
• Videos shared on social media by Soekarno-Hatta international airport in Jakarta indicated firefighters and firetrucks clearing runways and other operational facilities covered by ash.

For context, the five airports reopened on Tuesday after authorities cleared volcanic ash from critical infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the disruption affected more than 340, 000 travellers and approximately 2, 900 flights.

Transport Minister Dudy Purwagandhi remarked it may take "a bit" longer for flight schedules to return to normal.

"We ask for a little patience from passengers and the public, as we will be carrying out inspections to ensure that these aircraft are fit to fly, " Dudy remarked to journalists at the airport.

"The first departing aircraft was a cargo plane, " Dudy remarked. "We will be operating these aircraft, but before we do so, we want to ensure their airworthiness. So, it may take a bit of extra time."

Notably, the volcano erupted at least three times on Tuesday morning alone, according to the head of the national Geology Agency, Lana Saria.

"The impact is not as big as the previous eruptions, but we'll continue to monitor, " the head of the Geology Agency, Lana Saria, informed the Reuters news agency.

Anak Krakatau is one of regarding 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. It straddles the "Pacific Ring of Fire", a highly seismically active zone where different plates on the Earth's crust ‌meet to create numerous earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

For context, an outburst in 2018 partly collapsed the volcano's crater. It triggered a tsunami along the coasts of Java and Sumatra, killing more than 400 individuals.

In short, indonesia airports reopen after volcanic ash disrupts thousands of flights is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.