Jakarta. Legislators have criticized the management Soekarno-Hatta International Airport after a fire engulfed a lounge in its international departures terminal on Sunday morning, resulting in flight disruptions that continued through Monday.

The fire may have started from an oven in the kitchen area of the JW Sky Lounge at Terminal 2E of the airport outside Jakarta, but ongoing forensic tests are still needed to confirm the cause of the blaze, the airport police chief, Sr. Comr. C.H. Pattopoi, told Tempo.

House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah called the incident a “careless” human error, adding that the subsequent chaos in dealing with the fire reflected the airport's poor management.

“The cause [of the fire] was trivial. [...] But it is evident that Terminal 1 and 2 at Soekarno-Hatta are vulnerable,” Fahri told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.

He expressed concern that other Indonesian airports might be in even worse condition.

“There should a comprehensive audit [of the condition of airports across Indonesia],” Fahri said.

Nizar Zahro, a member of House Commission V, which oversees transportation and public works, directed his criticism at state-owned Angkasa Pura II, the operator of Soekarno-Hatta.

He said a minor incident like a kitchen fire should not have caused massive disruptions to scheduled flights if Angkasa Pura II had shown better crisis management.

The fire reportedly caused power cuts across Terminal 2, causing dozens of flight delays, some of which had not rescheduled as of Monday morning.

“[The situation at the airport] is very chaotic, despite the fact that Soekarno-Hatta  is supposed to have the most state-of-the-art system [compared to other Indonesian airports],” Nizar said after inspecting Terminal 2 on Monday with other House Commission V members.

“It is very clear that the management of Angkasa Pura II panicked and was negligent in anticipating the impact of the fire. This bad crisis management afflicts passengers,” he added.

Sunday's blaze was not the first at Soekarno-Hatta, but the airport operator did not seemed to have learned from previous cases, said Commission V member Fery Djemi Francis.

“The airport's standard operating procedure in cases of fire at food outlets, as well as the slow response of related parties in extinguishing the fire must be evaluated,” he said.

“This lack of response from responsible parties requires a serious investigation [...] to ensure safety and security,” he added.

House Speaker Setya Novanto, meanwhile, demanded that Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan investigate Angkasa Pura II's management of the airport.

Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said it was forced to delay at least 56 domestic and international flights on Sunday after the fire and subsequent power outage across Terminal 2. The delayed flights included popular routes to Surabaya and Denpasar, as well as to Singapore and Guangzhou.

Flights by Malaysia Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines also suffered delays due to the incident.

There were no reports of casualties in the fire.