The words ‘Lion Air’ and ‘delayed’ often appear in the same sentence. But who would have thought that their latest series of hours-long delays yesterday were caused by a solitary bird?

Detik reported that many Lion Air flights experienced delays yesterday. One of them was flight number JT 0396 due to depart from Jakarta to Kuala Namu in Medan.

“We should have boarded at 4:55pm. But then there was a delay announcement for 120 minutes,” said Hans, a passenger who was interviewed at 8:05pm, or more than 120 minutes since 4:55pm. 

There was no Lion Air crew to serve passengers who were seeking some sort of compensation for the lengthy delay. Instead, passengers just went ahead and grabbed some snacks and drinks that were put out near the waiting room.

And then at 8:10 pm, the Lion Air crew arrived in the waiting room but did not offer a satisfactory explanation for the delay.

“They said we’re waiting on the plane to come from Pekanbaru,” Hans said.

“The flight to Jambi was also delayed earlier. They were all delayed.”

Daniel Putu, Lion Air Operational Director, explained today that all of the delays were caused by a bird in Semarang, among other things.

“In Semarang a bird collided with a plane, which is known as ‘bird strike’. Second, there was a plane that endured technical problems so we had to schedule maintenance,” Daniel said, as quoted by Detik today. 

“These affected all of our operations.”

While a bird strike may seems like a comical excuse for so many delays, such an occurrence is actually extremely dangerous and Lion Air should be commended for taking the necessary safety precautions. 

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