LTSAH runway temporarily closed due to very bad haze

The runway at the Sultan Abdul Halim Airport (LTSAH) has been temporarily closed from 7am today due to the haze which recorded an Air Pollutant Index (API) reading of very unhealthy levels.

LTSAH manager Puteh Ramli said the operations would resume once the visibility range improved from the current range of 550, which was below the minimum level.

"We will monitor the situation every 10 minutes. If the visibility rises to 600, the runway will be reopened," he told Bernama, here, today.

Meanwhile, a spokesman of Malindo Air said the flight from Alor Setar to Subang scheduled at 11.25am was postponed to 2.30pm, pending the reopening of the runway.

"There is only one Malindo flight today and it has not been cancelled, just postponed until the runway is reopened," he said.

A spokesman for Malaysia Airlines Berhad, when contacted, said all morning flights were cancelled and subsequent flights would go on as scheduled if the runway reopened.

According to the Department of Environment website, the API reading for Alor Setar as at 8am today was 218, in the 'very unhealthy' category, while in Sungai Petani it was 237 and in Langkawi, at 230.