Visibility down to 500 metres, Subang airport closed due to smoke, passengers told

The Subang area has been badly affected by the poor air quality this afternoon, causing the authorities at Subang airport to close the airport due to visibility dropping to 500 metres. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, September 26, 2015.Passengers trying to board flights from Subang airport this afternoon have been told that the airport is closed indefinitely due to smoke, which has reduced visibility to 500 metres, said Lim Kit Siang who was among those stranded there.

The DAP parliamentary leader was supposed to be on a 5.15pm Firefly flight to Johor Baru for a function in Kulai tonight, but said he and other passengers were told by airport officials that all flights in and out of Subang airport have been cancelled indefinitely.

"Both Firely and Malindo Air made the announcement via the airport PA system informing passengers of this.

"Planes cannot land or leave, so the control tower ordered the airport to be closed," he told The Malaysian Insider when contacted today.

Earlier, Lim tweeted about the airport's closure.

"Stranded Subang airport waiting 4flight to JB as 5 FireFly flights to Langkawi Penang AStar JB KB delayed indefinitely bcos of haze problem," he said on Twitter at around 5.30pm.

An hour later, he wrote another tweet: "Subang airport closed because of haze problem creating visibility problem. All passengers of Firefly n Malindo flights stranded".

The Malaysian Insider's phone calls to Subang airport to verify the closure have not been answered.

A check on the Malaysian meteorological website showed that visibility at the airport has progressively worsen, from 1.5 kilometres at 8am to just 500 metres as of 5pm.

The number of places which recorded unhealthy Air Pollutant Index (API) readings has also gone up from four this morning to 10 as of 5pm today, according to the Department of Enviroment (DoE) API's readings.

Shah Alam and Port Klang in Selangor recorded an API reading of 101 and 102 respectively, while in Negri Sembilan, the resort town of Port Dickson registered a reading of 103 with its state capital of Seremban at 101.

Malacca's Bukit Rambai registered an API of 102 while Kuching in Sarawak has an API of 101.

The area with the highest reading currently is Balok Baru in Kuantan, Pahang, which recorded an API of 131.

Other areas with unhealthy API include Bandaraya Melaka in Malacca (133), Indera Mahkota (Pahang) at 112 and Kemaman (Terengganu) at 126.

Thirty four areas registered moderate API readings, including Petaling Jaya in Selangor and Cheras in Kuala Lumpur although visibility was poor and the smell of smoke was detectable.

According to the Department of Environment (DoE) website, an API in the 0-50 range is good, 51-100 is moderate, 100-200 is unhealthy, 200 to 300 very unhealthy and above 300, hazardous.

The DoE said previously that readings could be moderate but visibility poor because API readings represented an average.

Meanwhile, national news agency Bernama reported Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAS) saying that none of its flights in and out of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) have been affected by the poor air quality.

One flight, however, MH2591 from Miri to Kuala Lumpur, was diverted to Penang this afternoon due to poor visibility caused by the smoke.

"Aside from MH2591, all other Malaysia Airlines flights in and out of KLIA are not affected by the haze," MAS said in a statement.

Bernama also said a Malaysia Airport Holdings Berhad (MAHB) spokesman confirmed that the same flight had  landed safely in KLIA at 4.12pm today.

As of 3pm, the API reading in area around KLIA such as nearby Putrajaya was categorized as poor with a reading of 99.

A Bernama check around budget terminal klia2 found the area covered with smoke with visibility of two kilometres.

- TMI