Jakarta airport reopens after ash stranded over 340,000

Jakarta's main airport and four other air travel hubs reopened early Tuesday after days of closure caused by ash from Mount Anak Krakatau, Indonesia's Transport Ministry said.

The ministry said eight airports halted operations over the weekend after ash was detected in their airspace, disrupting nearly 3,000 flights and leaving more than 340,000 passengers stranded. Two of the original eight airports remained closed after the latest reopenings.

Mount Anak Krakatau, about 150 kilometres from Jakarta, erupted on Saturday, sending lava and a plume of volcanic ash into the air.

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport said it had resumed flight operations. The other reopened airports included Halim Perdanakusuma in the Jakarta area and Hussein Sastranegara in Bandung, the Transport Ministry said. A small airport in south Sumatra had resumed operations on Monday morning.

Soekarno-Hatta airport said more than 240 domestic and international flights were cancelled or delayed on Monday morning alone, affecting nearly 30,000 passengers. The Transport Ministry had prepared six alternative airports for aircraft originally scheduled to land in Jakarta.

Airlines still faced the task of moving stranded passengers after days of disruption.