Eva Air serves Surabaya

JAKARTA (JP): Eva Air of Taiwan made its inaugural flight from Taipei to Surabaya yesterday, carrying 226 tourists on a Boeing 767-200 aircraft with a capacity of 240 passengers.

Eva Air's regional manager for Indonesia, Paulus K. Soelaeman, was quoted by Antara as saying in Surabaya that the new route, which takes four hours and 35 minutes, will be a time-saver compared to the longer Jakarta-Taipei and Denpasar-Taipei routes.

The new route, he said, will run three times a week on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, and is expected to have an 80- percent seat-occupancy rate.

According to the head of Surabaya's Juanda airport, Mulhadi Sara, new international flights have lately increased the number of international passengers passing through the airport by about 40 percent. (pwn)