Air travel in Indonesia has been hit by fresh disruption as national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and budget airline Batik Air recorded a combined 14 flight cancellations and more than 100 delays affecting major hubs in Jakarta and Makassar over recent days.

The disruptions, centered on Soekarno-Hatta International Airport near Jakarta and Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport in Makassar, have stranded and inconvenienced hundreds of passengers at the height of the New Year travel season and amid wider regional operational strains.

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Chain Reaction of Delays Across Jakarta and Makassar

Data compiled from airport operators and flight-tracking reports for the week of January 12 to 18 indicate that Indonesia’s two key gateways, Soekarno-Hatta and Sultan Hasanuddin, have been operating under significant stress. At least 14 flights operated by Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air were canceled outright, while well over 100 experienced delays ranging from 30 minutes to several hours. The bulk of disruptions were clustered around January 12 and January 16, when heavy rain in Jakarta and a broader regional backlog in Southeast Asia contributed to knock-on operational issues.

At Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, authorities confirmed that 109 flights were delayed and dozens diverted on Monday, January 12, after severe rainfall hampered visibility and slowed arrivals and departures. Airport officials said that airlines, including Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air, were instructed to implement delay management procedures, adjust scheduling and reroute some services to maintain safety. Those weather-related delays cascaded into the following days as carriers struggled to re-position aircraft and crews, particularly on dense domestic corridors linking Jakarta to Makassar and other eastern Indonesian cities.

Makassar’s Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport, a vital hub for eastern Indonesia, felt the impact as disrupted Jakarta departures rippled through the network. Flights arriving late from the capital forced airlines to compress ground times or reschedule onward legs, resulting in late-night and early-morning delays. For Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air, which rely heavily on these trunk routes to feed secondary destinations, the disruption quickly translated into schedule gaps that could not be closed without cancellations.

Numbers Behind the Turmoil: Cancellations and Delay Totals

The headline figures for Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air, while a fraction of the total traffic flowing through Indonesian skies, reflect the persistent fragility of schedules in the region. On January 16 alone, a snapshot of Southeast Asian operations showed more than 1,200 flights delayed or canceled across Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta recorded around 370 delays and seven cancellations that day, placing it among the most affected airports in the region.

Within that wider picture, Batik Air emerged as one of the hardest-hit airlines by volume, with around 94 delayed services and several cancellations attributed to the combined effect of weather, congestion and operational constraints. Garuda Indonesia, while not among the very worst performers, still logged dozens of delayed flights and at least two cancellations in the same period, particularly on routes touching Jakarta. Aggregated over a several-day window that encompassed the January 12 weather episode and the January 16 regional backlog, the two Indonesian carriers together reached 14 cancellations and in excess of 100 delayed flights.

For passengers, the distinction between a delay of two hours and a cancellation can be largely academic when rebooking options are limited. Travelers reported missed connections onto domestic links to Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua as well as to international destinations, forcing unplanned overnight stays in Jakarta or Makassar. With load factors already high after the Christmas and New Year peak, spare seats on later departures were scarce, extending the disruption beyond the immediate day of operations.

Passengers Stranded as Airports Activate Contingency Plans

Scenes at Soekarno-Hatta and Sultan Hasanuddin in recent days underscored how quickly Indonesian airports can reach a breaking point when multiple carriers simultaneously fall behind schedule. Terminal waiting areas in Jakarta filled with passengers waiting for rebooked flights or updated departure times, while long queues formed at airline service desks as customers sought meal vouchers, hotel accommodation or rerouting options. At Makassar, airport authorities opened additional seating zones and coordinated with airlines to manage crowds around the gate areas.

Indonesia’s state-owned airport operator, now consolidated as InJourney Airports, has said it anticipated higher delay potential during the extended Christmas and New Year period and put in place so-called buffer rooms at major airports, including Jakarta and Makassar. These areas, which include access to food and beverage outlets and more comfortable seating, are designed to accommodate travelers facing multi-hour waits. Officials have also emphasized that in cases of very prolonged disruptions, passengers are entitled to accommodation or “mini stay” arrangements, coordinated in partnership with the airlines.

Even with these contingency measures, the pace and scale of recent disruptions highlighted the difficulty of maintaining adequate passenger handling standards when delays stretch late into the night. Some travelers complained of limited information about the cause of delays and a lack of clear timelines for rescheduled departures. Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air have repeatedly stressed that safety considerations remain paramount and that decisions to delay or cancel flights are made in coordination with air traffic control and airport operators.

Weather, Infrastructure and Operational Strain Collide

The immediate trigger for the latest bout of travel turmoil was weather. Heavy rainfall around Jakarta on January 12 reduced visibility, flooded access roads and forced pilots to conduct go-arounds or delay approaches at Soekarno-Hatta. Airport management reported more than a hundred delays in the space of several hours, with at least seven aircraft required to abort initial landing attempts and thirty-one flights diverted to other airports. Such large-scale disruptions compress arrival and departure banks, leading to congestion both on the ground and in the air.

However, the underlying picture is more complex than a single day of adverse weather. Indonesia’s aviation sector has been juggling rising passenger demand, higher operational costs and lingering maintenance backlogs in the post-pandemic period. Industry executives, including those from Garuda Indonesia, have warned that supply chain issues, expensive spare parts and a weak rupiah have forced some aircraft to remain grounded longer than planned. Fewer available aircraft in turn leave airlines with little slack to absorb sudden weather disruptions, making cancellations more likely when schedules falter.

Infrastructure capacity is another factor. Soekarno-Hatta, serving the Jakarta metropolitan area, remains one of Southeast Asia’s busiest hubs and routinely operates near the limits of its runway and terminal capacity during peak hours. Sultan Hasanuddin, while smaller, plays an outsized role as a transfer point for eastern Indonesia. When late arrivals compress turnarounds at these airports, baggage handling, catering and refueling services can quickly become bottlenecks, amplifying minor delays into multi-hour hold-ups.

Regulators and Airlines Under Pressure to Improve Reliability

The latest wave of delays and cancellations has sharpened scrutiny on both airlines and regulators. Indonesia’s Ministry of Transportation, which in recent years has been heavily focused on safety oversight and fare regulation, is now facing renewed calls to address reliability and passenger rights more aggressively. The ministry recently reviewed domestic airfares in response to rising operational costs for airlines, a move aimed at keeping carriers financially viable amid higher maintenance and fuel bills. Yet passengers and consumer advocates argue that any fare adjustments must be matched with tangible improvements in punctuality and customer care.

Indonesia has made significant strides in aviation safety in the past decade, with all of its airlines removed from earlier European Union blacklists following institutional reforms. Garuda Indonesia in particular won global recognition for on-time performance in 2022. The current disruptions, however, demonstrate that operational reliability can degrade quickly when external shocks collide with structural pressures, such as aging fleets and constrained finances.

Garuda and Batik Air have not publicly released full breakdowns of their latest on-time performance metrics, but statements from airline and airport officials emphasize enhanced coordination and “delay management procedures” to reduce the impact on travelers. These include dynamic rerouting, crew reassignment and priority handling for flights with large numbers of connecting passengers. Analysts note that such measures can only go so far without deeper investment in fleet renewal, maintenance capacity and digital tools for real-time operations management.

Makassar Crash Investigation Adds to Aviation Tensions

Complicating the backdrop to the operational turmoil is a separate aviation incident that has drawn national attention to flight safety. On January 17, an ATR 42-500 aircraft operated by Indonesia Air Transport on a government charter flight from Yogyakarta to Makassar disappeared from radar while approaching the mountainous region around Mount Bulusaraung in South Sulawesi. The aircraft, carrying crew and officials from the Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry, failed to arrive at Sultan Hasanuddin, prompting a large-scale search and rescue operation.

By January 18, Indonesian rescue teams had located debris from the turboprop in remote terrain and recovered at least one body, with several other occupants still unaccounted for. Adverse weather, rugged topography and low visibility have hampered the search effort, and investigators have not yet determined the precise cause of the crash. Early indications suggest the aircraft may have deviated from its correct approach path, with local residents reporting a loud explosion and sightings of smoke near the time contact was lost.

Although the ATR crash involves a different operator and mission profile than commercial passenger services by Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air, the accident has inevitably heightened public anxiety around flying in and out of Makassar at a time when delays and cancellations are already front of mind. Aviation authorities have stressed that commercial flights to Sultan Hasanuddin remain safe and that the crash investigation will be handled separately by the National Transportation Safety Committee, but the timing has underscored the fragility of confidence in Indonesia’s aviation system.

Economic and Tourism Impact Across the Archipelago

Indonesia’s status as an archipelagic nation makes it particularly reliant on air travel for both domestic connectivity and international tourism. Disruptions centered on Jakarta and Makassar reverberate far beyond those cities, affecting business trips, cargo movements and holiday plans across multiple islands. For destinations in eastern Indonesia that depend on feed from Makassar, such as Toraja, Kendari and the Maluku islands, delayed or canceled flights can mean lost tourism revenue and logistical headaches for local businesses.

January is traditionally a busy period for domestic tourism, as Indonesians take advantage of school holidays and the tail end of the Christmas and New Year fare discounts announced late last year by the Ministry of Transportation. The promise of more affordable tickets was meant to stimulate travel demand and support economic growth. When flights are significantly delayed or canceled, however, travelers may postpone or shorten trips, undermining the policy’s intended benefits.

Internationally, persistent images of crowded departure halls and stranded passengers at Soekarno-Hatta pose reputational risks as Indonesia seeks to position itself as a reliable aviation hub and tourism gateway to Southeast Asia. Neighboring countries, including Singapore and Malaysia, are competing aggressively for regional transit traffic and long-haul visitors. Industry observers warn that without visible improvements in operational robustness, Indonesia’s carriers could lose market share on strategically important routes.

Calls for Long-Term Fixes to a Recurrent Problem

For frequent flyers in Indonesia, disrupted schedules are far from a new experience. Weather extremes, infrastructure strain and airline financial fragility have periodically combined to create severe bottlenecks at major airports in recent years. The current spate of cancellations and delays involving Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air is therefore seen less as a one-off shock than as a symptom of systemic weaknesses in the aviation ecosystem.

Experts and passenger advocacy groups have called for a more comprehensive strategy that goes beyond reactive delay management. Proposals include accelerated investment in airport capacity upgrades, particularly at Soekarno-Hatta, expanded maintenance hangar facilities to reduce the time aircraft spend grounded, and more stringent public reporting requirements on airline on-time performance and compensation practices. Greater integration of weather forecasting data into operational planning, especially during the rainy season, is another recurring recommendation.

For now, travelers flying through Jakarta and Makassar are being advised to monitor flight status closely, allow additional transit time and prepare for potential disruptions as airlines and airports work through the backlog. With the memory of the latest cancellations and delays still fresh, the coming weeks will test whether Indonesia’s aviation sector can stabilize operations and rebuild confidence before the next peak travel period arrives.