EVA Air says traffic loads back to precrisis level

EVA Air says traffic loads back to precrisis level

JAKARTA (JP): The number of passengers flying between Taipei
and three Indonesian cities on EVA Air has returned to its
precrisis level, the Taiwan-based airline said on Monday.

The load factor on flights from Taipei to Jakarta, Surabaya
and Denpasar averaged 70 percent during the low season this year,
compared to 60 percent at the peak of the economic crisis in
1998, EVA Air deputy general manager Makmun Hamsa said.

"During the peak seasons the load factor could reach up to 90
percent or 92 percent, and for Bali it could reach 99 percent,"
Makmun said.

"People have now gotten used to the monetary crisis and since
it looks like the dollar has stabilized people are more sure
about doing business," he said.

The peak seasons are during the summer holidays between July
and August, during the Chinese New Year and at Christmas, Makmun
said.

EVA Air has daily flights between Taipei and Jakarta, five
flights a week to and from Denpasar and three flights a week to
and from Surabaya, with a transit in Denpasar.

The airline uses the 272-seat Boeing 747-400 Combi for its
Jakarta route and the 212-seat Boeing 767-200 for its Denpasar
and Surabaya services.

Ken Chang, EVA Air's outgoing owner's representative in
Jakarta, the equivalent of a general manager, said that for the
last two years many people from Taiwan had chosen Bali as their
holiday destination due to political unrest in Jakarta.

In 1999, 354,271 people from Taiwan visited Indonesia, a total
which placed Taiwan behind Singapore, Japan, Australia and
Malaysia in number of tourists visiting the country, according to
the Office of the State Minister of Tourism and Arts. (10)