Airline reaps profits during election

Airline reaps profits during election

MANADO, North Sulawesi: The number of air passengers from and to
North Sulawesi's provincial capital of Manado has risen 10
percent to 20 percent since the electoral campaigning period
began last March 11, an airline executive said.

Until the third round of the election campaigns, the load
factor of planes flying from and to Manado reached 80 percent to
90 percent of their capacity, Batavia Air's district manager
Freddy Mangindaan said on Sunday.

Batavia Air enjoyed a 20-percent increase in the number of air
passengers since the start of the election campaigns on March 11,
he said. The increase in the number of air passengers mostly
happened on the Jakarta-Manado route, he said.

Bouraq also saw a 10-percent rise in the number of air
passenger during the election campaigns.

Meanwhile, head of the Garuda Indonesia branch office in
Manado, Koko Ritonga, said the national flag carrier experienced
an increase in number of air passengers only in the afternoon
with the load factor reaching 80 percent.

"The number of air passengers in the morning has been
relatively small with the load factor reaching only 50 percent to
60 percent because many planes fly in the morning," he said. --
Antara