Fire destroys terminal at Indonesian airport

Flights from Polonia airport in Medan, Indonesia's third-largest city, have not been affected by a fire that destroyed the domestic passenger terminal there, airline and local government officials said Sunday.
The fire destroyed the offices of the airport's operator, PT Angkasa Pura, leading to disruptions at check-in and in baggage handling, according to Eddy Sofyan, spokesman for the governor of North Sumatra Province,,
Medan's international terminal, at the same airport, was not affected, he said
The cause of the fire is still unknown, Sofyan said.
Wasfan Wahyu Widodo, from Angkasa Pura's Jakarta office, said there were no reports of delays in Medan.
Pujobroto, a spokesman for Indonesia's main carrier, Garuda Indonesia, said the airline's flights had all departed pretty much on time from Medan.
But a passenger at one of the temporary check-in counters reached by Reuters by phone said her flight had been delayed for almost three hours, although it was not clear whether that was because of the fire or another reason.
"There hasn't been any announcement from the airline nor the airport," said Steffy Rompas, a passenger heading from Medan to Sibolga, a city in North Sumatra.
A new airport is being built for Medan in Deli Serdang district to replace Polonia, which is in the city center. But the new airport, expected to be the country's second-biggest air hub after Jakarta, will not be ready until 2009.

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