Malaysia: 21 domestic and international flights cancelled in Johor

KATHLEEN ANN KILI The Star 25 Sep 15;

KULAI: Twenty-one domestic and international flights from the Senai International Airport here were cancelled due to the haze on Friday.

The airport's chief operations officer Noor Safura Suib said that the flights were cancelled because of poor visibility.

"The visibility distance recorded between 50m and 300m from 6.30am to 8.30am resulted in some flights being cancelled," she told The Star when met here.

She added that only five flights were given the green light to depart later in the afternoon when the visibility showed improvement.

"It is still uncertain as to how long the situation will continue but passengers have been provided assistance including coaches to send them to nearby hotels," she added.


Air quality in Johor at unhealthy levels
VICTORIA BROWN AND KATHLEEN ANN KILI The Star 25 Sep 15;

JOHOR BARU: The haze in Johor hit "very unhealthy" levels with air pollution index (API) readings of 201 in Pasir Gudang, with other areas in the state still showing "unhealthy" levels Friday

The Department of Environment (DOE) recorded API readings that shot up to very unhealthy levels in Pasir Gudang from 196 as of 8am to 201 as of 9am on Friday (Sept 25).

The Kota Tinggi and Larkin Lama areas remained at unhealthy levels of 135 and 187 as of 9am.

The haze in Muar, however, has drastically reduced in the past week with an average API reading of 71 as of 9am.

Kuantan also had "unhealthy" readings, Balok Baru had an API reading of 156 and Indera Mahkota at 134.

Kemaman and Paka in Terengganu also recorded "unhealthy" readings of 143 and 106 respectively.

The API readings in the Klang Valley was "moderate" at 8am.

Putrajaya read 72, Cheras was at 53, Petaling Jaya was at 64, Kuala Selangor at 52, Shah Alam at 68.

Kelantan, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan and parts Perak also had "moderate" readings.

Penang and Kedah had the best API readings, staying below 50 at the "good" level.

Most of Sarawak had "moderate" readings, while most of Sabah had "good" readings except for Tawau that had a "moderate" API reading of 51.

The API reading from 201 to 300 is considered "very unhealthy", 101 to 200 is considered "unhealthy", 51 to 100 is considered "moderate", while 0 to 50 is considered "good".

The API is calculated based on five major air pollutants, namely Sulphur Dioxide (SO2), Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2), Ground Level Ozone (O3), Carbon Monoxide (CO) and particulate matter with a diameter below 10 micrometers (PM10).

In Singapore, all primary and secondary schools were forced to close on Friday, with conditions reaching hazardous levels.

Haze no deterrent to plans
KATHLEEN ANN KILI The Star 25 Sep 15;

JOHOR BARU: The haze is back but this is not stopping the people from enjoying the one-week school holiday to the fullest with many families thronging the various tourist spots here.

A check by The Star showed that destinations like Legoland Resort and the state zoo were crowded with people, some of whom were spotted donning face masks.

Dr Ameerah Adeelah Mohamad Arip, 30, who visited Legoland with her husband and three young sons, said she decided to stick with the plan because she did not want to disappoint her children.

“We promised to bring them here during the school holidays and since the tickets were booked over a month ago, we decided to go ahead on the condition that they kept their face masks and caps on at all times.

“We have also brought extra bottles of water to ensure that they stay hydrated,” said Dr Ameerah yesterday.

Housewife Rosmaria Shaari, 51, who was wearing a face mask, said her family had come to Johor from other parts of the country to celebrate Hari Raya Haji that had been planned several months in advance.

“It is hard to gather the family together so we want to take the opportunity to enjoy the holidays despite the hazy weather,” she said at the park entrance.

A Canadian architect, who wanted to be known only as Patel, 33, said he had not expected the haze when he planned the trip in June with his wife and two children.

“It was only when we arrived that we realised that the haze had worsened,” he said, adding that he bought some face masks at a pharmacy here.

Patel said he also had to constantly check online for updates on the weather.

Singaporean Tan Sue Ling, 18, and her friends also made a day trip to Johor to escape from the haze affecting the island republic.

“We decided to spend some time here as being outdoors in Singapore is even more hazardous to our health,” she added.


Ministry to decide on school closure in Johor
The Star 26 Sep 15;

KUALA NERANG: The Education Ministry will decide by today if schools in Johor should remain closed due to the haze, which has already caused the cancellation of 21 flights from the Senai Inter­national Airport.

Education Minister Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid said it was monitoring the situation in Johor as well as Malacca and Negri Sembilan.

“If the Air Pollutant Index (API) reading does not drop, we will ask the state education department in Johor to close the schools,” he told reporters here yesterday.

Schools here are scheduled to reopen tomorrow after the one-week school holiday while classes will resume on Monday for Malacca and Negri Sembilan.

At the airport, some 1,000 travellers were affected when the flights were cancelled after visibility fell below 1km.

“Visibility was recorded between 50m and 300m at around 6.30am to 8.30am in the morning,” said the airport’s chief operations officer Noor Safura Suib, adding that only five domestic flights were given the greenlight to depart when the situation improved in the afternoon.

Some airlines, however, were considering departing later in the night, she said, adding that as at 5pm yesterday, visibility had climbed back to 6km.

Pasir Gudang in Johor recorded an API of 201 at 9am, which is in the very unhealthy category, before improving to 182 at 2pm.

As at 11am, the readings for Larkin and Kota Tinggi were 190 and 129.

Other areas showing unhealthy API levels were Balok Baru (159) and Indera Mahkota (136) in Pahang and Kemaman (153) and Paka (113) in Terengganu.

MetMalaysia spokesman Dr Hisham Mohd Anip said the haze was expected to make a comeback in Sarawak today as the winds shifted from southern Kalimantan to the eastern part of the state.

API levels, he said, were expected to gradually worsen in Kuching, Samarahan and Sri Aman.

Air quality in the worst hit regions of Johor, southern Pahang and Terengganu, said Dr Hisham, was predicted to remain the same until the end of the month.

“A slight haze is expected over all other states.

“MetMalaysia predicts API readings to improve in early October when inter-monsoon winds bring rains,” he said.

A wind change due to a cyclone, which would make landfall over eastern China either on Monday or Tuesday, was also expected to improve overall conditions.

In a statement, Natural Resources and Environment Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar said the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre had detected 93 hotspots in Kalimantan and 41 in Sumatera.

A single hotspot was also detected in Kelantan.