Airline seats fuuly booked for long year-end holidays<\/p>\n
By Tantri Yuliandini<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): People planning to spend their long year-end
\nholidays away may find it hard to get airplane tickets as seats
\noffered by most airlines have been fully booked from Dec. 16 to
\nJan. 10, according to travel agents.<\/p>\n
PT Travoo Online's Santirini said that domestic flights to
\nBali, Yogyakarta, Medan, Makassar, and Surabaya are fully booked
\nfrom Dec. 17.<\/p>\n
"International flights to Singapore, Bangkok, Australia, and
\nMalaysia are all booked from Dec. 16 until Jan. 10," she told The
\nJakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Santirini said that individuals would find it difficult to
\nfind tickets for international travel as most of the seats have
\nbeen reserved to travel agents offering package tours.<\/p>\n
"At this time, individual travelers are usually offered to be
\non the waiting list," she said, adding that only in December when
\ntravel agents start canceling their reservations would
\nindividuals have a chance to get tickets.<\/p>\n
Out of all the people traveling to other countries on holiday,
\nsome 70 percent will be going on package tours, with only 30
\npercent as individuals, Santirini said.<\/p>\n
Local airlines have their own tricks in anticipating the
\nexpected passenger surge during the months preceding and
\nfollowing Christmas, Idul Fitri, and New Year.<\/p>\n
State-owned flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said it will add an
\nextra 23,933 seats from Dec. 15, 2000 to Jan. 10, 2001.<\/p>\n
Garuda vice president for corporate communications Pujobroto
\nsaid the airline would increase the frequency of its regular
\nflights, provide extra-flights as well as operate larger aircraft
\nfor some busy destinations.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta-Solo, Central Java route will be increased to
\nthree times a day from only two times, Jakarta-Semarang to four
\ntimes a day from three times, and Jakarta-Yogyakarta to six times
\na day from five times, he said.<\/p>\n
Garuda would also service seven extra flights on the Jakarta-
\nYogyakarta route using the F-28 aircraft, one extra flight on the
\nJakarta-Denpasar-Jakarta route using Boeing 737-300 aircraft, and
\n19 extra flights on the Jakarta-Singapore-Jakarta route using the
\nBoeing 737-300 aircraft, Pujobroto said.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta-Denpasar route would be serviced using the 420-
\nseater Boeing 747-200 aircraft, the Denpasar-Surabaya route with
\nthe 296-seater A-330 aircraft, and the Jakarta-Singapore route
\nwith the 247-seater DC-10 aircraft, he explained.<\/p>\n
Privately-owned Mandala Airlines said that it started
\npreparations from early November so that customers could be
\nfamiliar with the programs sooner, head of development Kus
\nWinarko told the Post.<\/p>\n
He said that the airline had already begun increasing its
\nflights and would continue until the middle of January.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta-Surabaya-Banjar (Bali) route will be serviced two
\ntimes a day from the previous once a day, the Jakarta-Surabaya-
\nMakassar (South Sulawesi) route will be flown twice a day, and
\nthe Jakarta-Surabaya-Makassar route three times a day from the
\noriginal two times, Kus said.<\/p>\n
Mandala also added two new flights this month to Padang, West
\nSumatra and Batam, Riau, each serviced once a day, he added.<\/p>\n
"We want our customers to know our schedules so they can plan
\ntheir holidays better," Kus explained.<\/p>\n
In addition to the increased flight schedule, the airline
\nanticipated the surge by providing extra flights on the Jakarta-
\nDenpasar route, which will be flown twice daily in the late
\nafternoons, he said.<\/p>\n
"And we will also add an extra flight to Manado, North
\nSulawesi on Dec. 23, because we expect many people from the
\nregion will want to go home for Christmas," Kus added.<\/p>\n
To help bear the burden of extra flights, the airline will
\nalso be adding an extra 100-seater Boeing 737-200 aircraft next
\nmonth, making the total of 11 aircraft owned by the company, he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Bouraq Airlines, another privately-owned company, said it
\nwould increase its flight frequency on the Denpasar-Manado,
\nSurabaya-Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Balikpapan-Manado,
\nJakarta-Batam, Jakarta-Manado, and the Surabaya-Manado routes.<\/p>\n
Bouraq area sales comptroller Najman Hadi said that the
\nairlines will also add a 120-seater Boeing 737-200 aircraft to
\nhelp with the extra flights this month, adding to the seven
\nBoeings and one Fokker aircraft the company owns.<\/p>\n
Unlike other methods of travel that the government allowed to
\nincrease their fares during the holidays, airlines are not
\nallowed to increase theirs.<\/p>\n
Santirini from Travoo said that many airlines now charge their
\nfull published fare instead of giving the discounts they usually
\ngive on normal days.<\/p>\n
"And on international flights, they apply a surcharge of US$50
\nfor travel to Asian countries and $100 for travel to the United
\nStates," she said.<\/p>\n
However, Bouraq said that it will not be charging the full fee
\nand instead will decrease its discount rate from the usual 25
\npercent to 10 percent, while Mandala said it will not disappoint
\nits regular customers by not giving the usual discounts.<\/p>\n
Despite efforts from the airlines to provide extra flights,
\nwith over 18 million people predicted to be leaving Jakarta for
\nthe holidays, and 382,000 expected to travel by airplanes, it
\nwould be a good idea to reserve seats well in advance.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/airline-seats-fuuly-booked-for-long-year-end-holidays-1447893297",
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