Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport Resumes Operations After Nyepi Pause

DENPASAR, NusaBali.com - Bali's I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, on Tuesday, reopened by serving a flight coming from China's Hong Kong after temporarily shutting down its operations for 24 hours during the celebration of the Hindu ritual Nyepi.

"The first international flight we served was the arrival of a Hong Kong Airlines' airplane coming from Hong Kong, with flight number HX 707, at 6:41 a.m. local time," the airport's general manager, Handy Heryudhitiawan, stated in Denpasar City, Bali Province.

He noted that the temporary closure of the international airport was effective from Monday (March 11) at 6 a.m. local time until Tuesday at 6 a.m. local time.

Heryudhitiawan remarked that since Tuesday morning, the airport located in southern Bali has also been serving departure flights, with the flight of Cebu Pacific's airplane to Manila being the first one at 8:47 a.m. local time.

Regarding domestic flights, he stated that the airport accommodated the arrival of a Citilink Indonesia's aircraft from Makassar, South Sulawesi, at 7:06 a.m. local time and served the departure of the airline's airplane to Lombok Island, West Nusa Tenggara, in the next hour.

The general manager then highlighted that the situation at the airport remained conducive during the round-the-clock pause, noting that several airplanes scheduled to operate after Nyepi were parked there.

In detail, the I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport accommodated the parking of 16 airplanes during the temporary closure, comprising 15 domestic flight airplanes and one international flight aircraft, he pointed out.

"We can confirm that the airport did not experience any irregular events during Nyepi and that the celebration of the ritual went smoothly and solemnly," he stated.

He also remarked that the airport's management made the most of the 24-hour pause to conduct maintenance on the facilities of the airport. *ant