18-4-2024 (KUALA LUMPUR) Passengers at Kuching International Airport faced a day of frustration on Thursday (April 18) as flights were cancelled due to the eruption of Mount Ruang in Indonesia.
Long queues formed at the check-in counters and airline offices as passengers scrambled to rebook their flights amidst the disruption.
Former Mas Gading MP Datuk Dr Tiki Lafe, scheduled to fly to Kuala Lumpur on a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight at 10.05am, found himself among the affected travellers.
“When I went to the counter to collect my boarding pass, I was informed that the flight was cancelled due to a volcanic eruption in Indonesia. So I proceeded to the MAS office where I found many others already present,” he explained.
Dr Tiki expressed his support for MAS’ decision to cancel flights, prioritizing passenger safety amidst the natural disaster.
Mohd Amirul Othman arrived at the airport at 7am only to discover shortly after 11am that his Batik Air flight to Kuala Lumpur at 11.15am was cancelled.
“Now I’m just standing by at the airport. It’s a natural disaster that we did not expect. I’m disappointed but safety comes first. I wouldn’t dare to fly now anyway as I understand the risk,” he stated.
Najwa Illiana, returning to Kuching for Hari Raya, expressed uncertainty about securing another flight for her family of five.
“Our flight was scheduled for 1.55pm but upon arriving at the airport, we learned it was cancelled due to the volcanic eruption,” she remarked.
Azlan Hateem Abdollah faced challenges securing a flight to Kuala Lumpur before Sunday, as flights on Friday and Saturday were already full.
“At the moment, we don’t know what’s happening so we’re just queuing up. It’s a bit troublesome because it affects our work schedule. We came back for Raya, so it looks like we will have to continue our Raya celebration,” he shared.
Opar assemblyman Billy Sujang disclosed that his son’s cancelled flight had been rescheduled to Sunday.
“We knew about the cancellation of the flight early this morning. It affects a lot of people, we can see a lot of passengers waiting at the airport who need to reconfirm their flights,” he observed.
