Thick smoke in Sumatra island. (Source: Reuters) Many flights at 16 airports on Sumatra and Kalimantan islands of Indonesia have been delayed or cancelled over the past several days due to the haze pollution caused by forest fires in Indonesia.
On September 29 alone, 10 flights at Sultan Syarif Kasim II Pekanbaru airport in the province of Riau were cancelled when thick smoke limited the vision to 700m, according to the airport director Ibnu Hasan.
SSK II Pekanbaru airport, which daily serves 70 international and domestic flights from 11 carriers, was severely affected by the haze pollution since September 2, causing dozens of flights to be cancelled or delayed each day, impacting thousands of passengers.
Prolonged droughts and farming practices in the region have caused many forest fires on Sumatra, Kalimantan, Java and Sulawesi Islands.
Satellite images show Sumatra Islands has 190 fire areas in which 178 are in the South Sumatra.
The haze pollution also has disastrous impacts on neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.-VNA
