On 21 December 2013, the district head of
Ngada,
East Nusa Tenggara, decided to bar state-controlled airline
Merpati Nusantara from landing at the airport after he was refused a ticket on a Merpati flight that was already fully booked.[4] Two Merparti planes, one of them carrying 54 passengers, were forced to return to
El Tari Airport in
Kupang after the airport was closed from 6:15 a.m. to 9 a.m. Several other flights were also reportedly redirected.[5]