East Papua regency seeks more planes

East Papua regency seeks more planes

JAYAPURA, Papua: The administration of Puncak Jaya is considering
hiring planes from a Canadian and a New Zealand airline, to help
it break the isolation of the East Papua regency.

Puncak Jaya regent Elieser Renmaur said over the weekend that
he hoped to add the flight frequency to and from the regency now
served by a number of small sized Twin Otter planes.

He did not say which Canadian or New Zealand airline the
regency approached or what planes they planned to hire, but said
they were looking for planes bigger than the Twin Otter.

So far Puncak Jaya has no airport on which larger planes like
a Hercules or Fokker 27 could land, even though it relies on air
transportation. The dependence on small planes is driving up the
cost of various products sold in Puncak Jaya capital Mulia.

Now the regency also plans to build a road connecting it with
Jayawijaya. The planned road, Elieser said, would link Mulia with
the Jayawijaya capital of Wamena. -- Antara