Transmigrants now fly in style<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Twenty-five families left from the Halim
\nPerdanakusumah airport yesterday on board a commercial Boeing
\n737-200 plane from here to Jayapura with plans to begin a new
\nlife in Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
The Boeings are a major transportation improvement in the
\ngovernment's program to resettle people from overcrowded Java to
\nthe lesser densely populated islands, Antara reported.<\/p>\n
In the past, settlers and their belongings were transported
\nand crammed into Hercules planes. Now with the use of passenger
\njets they travel in style.<\/p>\n
Ajum, a 50-year old woman who was traveling with her husband
\nand four children, was elated. \"I feel as if we are on holiday,\"
\nshe said before boarding the plane.<\/p>\n
Wibowo, director general for the deployment and supervision at
\nthe Ministry of Transmigration, said at the airport that the new
\nmethod was not necessarily more expensive.<\/p>\n
\"The use of passenger jets is in fact more efficient because
\nit takes only five hours to reach Jayapura, while a Hercules
\nplane would take at least seven and half hours,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He added that the government is paying an hourly rate to PT
\nBali Air, the owners of the Boeing 737 planes. The private
\noperator has won a contract to transport 225 families from
\nJakarta, Surabaya and Solo to Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
\"We hope the jet planes will encourage more people to join the
\ntransmigration program,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Transmigration previously chartered the
\nHercules and Transhall propeller planes from the state-owned PT
\nPelita Air Service when transporting transmigrants.<\/p>\n
A source in Pelita said that the airline did not extend the
\ncontract with the Ministry of Transmigration because its Hercules
\nplanes had been claimed by the Air Force. (rms)<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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