Operations resumed at the Brunei International Airport at 23:00 local time Tuesday following a 31-hour shutdown that left thousands of passengers stranded after AirAsia flight AK278 skidded off the runway upon landing Monday afternoon, which subsequently forced the only commercial airport in the country to close, Borneo Bulletin reported Wednesday.
The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) of the Ministry of Communications issued a press statement late last night announcing the resumption of airport operations, adding that works to remove the grounded AirAsia A320 aircraft are still underway.
The newspaper said many stranded passengers were left in limbo with only little information and confirmation of their flight status during the shutdown Tuesday, as airline officials were not able to give passengers an exact time frame of flight schedules due to the airport closure.
The airport was initially scheduled to resume operations Tuesday morning, however, difficulties in removing the AirAsia A320 aircraft from the runway caused prolonged delays.
The AirAsia flight AK278 with 102 passengers and seven crew on board from Kuala Lumpur to Brunei skidded off the runway at the Brunei International Airport Monday afternoon while it was trying to land during a heavy rain. Nobody was injured in the accident.