Seven Airports Still Closed Stranding Hundreds of Thousands of Passengers: Inside Indonesia's Volcanic Crisis

Stranded passengers wait to request refunds after scheduled flights were canceled following the eruption of Mount Anak Krakatoa at Soekarno-Hatta airport in Tangerang on September 6, 2026. The Airport has been temporarily closed to all flight operations due to ash spewing from the Anak Krakatoa volcano. (Credit: Photo by ABIMANYU / AFP via Getty Images)

• Indonesia's Transport Ministry now says more than 270,000 passengers and roughly 2,300 flights have been affected since the Anak Krakatau eruption began disrupting air travel on Sept. 5 — well above the 150,000-passenger figure circulating a day earlier.
• Seven of eight closed airports, including Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta, stayed shut into Monday evening; an eighth, in South Sumatra, reopened Monday morning.
• Officials say they're basing reopening decisions on repeated negative ash tests, not a fixed timeline, and warn that another eruption remains possible in the coming days.

Volcanic ash from Mount Anak Krakatau has grounded roughly 2,300 flights and left more than 270,000 travelers stranded across Indonesia since the eruption intensified on Sept. 5, according to a Transport Ministry statement issued Monday — a toll far higher than initial weekend estimates suggested.