Haze Disrupts at Least Five Flights at Senai International Airport, Forcing Diversions to KLIA and Changi
Why It MattersThe disruption underscores how regional haze and air-quality conditions can periodically strain airport capacity and divert traffic across neighbouring hubs in Southeast Asia.
Haze causing poor visibility disrupted at least five flights at Senai International Airport, with several aircraft diverted to Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) and Changi Airport in Singapore, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said. He said the affected flights could not land at Senai because visibility fell short of established aviation safety requirements, and the disruption also delayed outbound flights still at their points of origin.
Loke experienced the disruption himself: his flight from KLIA to Senai, originally scheduled to depart at 6.45am, was held on ATC instructions, with passengers waiting aboard for nearly one hour and 45 minutes before departing at 9am once conditions improved. On arrival at Senai, he said some passengers remained stranded as outbound flights awaited aircraft that had been diverted earlier, though he expressed confidence operations would return to full capacity within two to three hours.
Separately, seven areas in Johor recorded unhealthy Air Pollutant Index readings, with Segamat highest at 186, followed by Pasir Gudang at 180, Larkin at 178 and Tangkak at 171, all within Malaysia's 101-200 "unhealthy" classification.
