AKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Smoke from land-clearing fires disrupted flights serving Indonesia's part of Borneo island as the country entered its annual dry season, a local official said Sunday.

The haze has covered the city of Pontianak in western Borneo over the past two days, delaying flights Sunday morning because of reduced visibility, local airport chief Syamsul Bachrie said.

Haze from forest fires, frequently deliberately lit by Indonesian land and plantation owners to clear land cheaply, has become a regular problem for large parts of Southeast Asia over the last 10 years.

"For safety reason, no flights were made this morning," Bachrie said, but added visibility had improved by midday and flights resumed over the rest of the day.

He said, however based on past experience, the haze would likely continue disrupting flights over at least the next couple of days.

Indonesia has predicted the haze will be much lighter this year because of greater efforts to combat the fires, which scientists say pump large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

The annual smog has caused health problems and billions of dollars of losses from falling tourism revenue and flight delays in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand since 1997, when it first began.

The country is the third-highest emitter of carbon dioxide worldwide, mostly due to the fires, scientists say.