Bad weather in Changi on Sunday forces three planes bound for Singapore to land in Batam

Three planes from two airlines cancelled their landing in Singapore late afternoon on Sunday (21 May), and were forced to divert to Hang Nadim International Airport in Batam due to bad weather in Changi Airport area.
Indonesian news Antara reported that the general manager of Hang Nadim International Airport in Batam, Suwarso, informed reporters on Sunday night, two Silk Air and one Tiger Air airplanes have landed in Hang Nadim Airport between 5:50pm and 6:28pm (Singapore time).
Airbus A320/9V-SlQ flying from Phuket Thailand destination Changi Singapore landed at Hang Nadim Batam at 5:50pm. The plane carrying 124 passengers was finally able to fly to Singapore at 7:58 pm.
Airbus A320/9V-TRX from Penang Malaysia, landed at Hang Nadim at 6.09pm Singapore time; after waiting for more than an hour, the plane with 153 passengers was allowed to take off to Changi, Singapore, at 7:13pm.
The last flight, Silk Air with Boeing 737/9V-MGR aircraft from Xiamen China destination Changi Singapore landed at Hang Nadim at 6:28pm. The plane carrying 144 passengers took off to Changi, Singapore, at 7.43pm.
“The planes were about to land in Changi but there was heavy rain limiting the visibility so the pilots decided to divert the landing to Batam to wait for the weather to improve,” Mr Suwarso said.
During the stay at Hang Nadim International Airport all passengers remained in the plane. “Passengers stayed on the plane, and when in Hang Nadim the aircrafts also refueled,” said Mr Suwarso.
“Not only medium-bodied aircraft such as Boeing 737 or Airbus, wide-bodied aircraft like Boeing 777 and Airbus A380 can also land in Hang Nadim,” he said.
Hang Nadim International Airport Batam is an alternative landing for a lot of airlines when Changi Airport was hit by bad weather causing landing risk.
On 3 Feb two Singapore Airlines’ and one Silk Air’s aircrafts had landed in Hang Nadim Airport due to bad weather. And on 8 Feb a Singapore-bound wide-bodied airplane from Cathay Pacific  with 187 passengers has also been diverted to land in the Batam international airport.
Hang Nadim Airport in Batam has 4,025 kilometers runway that enable all types of aircraft to land safely, Antara wrote.