EVA Air stops direct flight to Surabaya

JAKARTA (JP): Taiwan airline EVA Air will stop direct shuttle flights from Taipei to Surabaya, East Java, from Sept. 21 following a drop in demand.

Billy Djohan, the acting deputy manager for Perdana Andalan Air Service, which is EVA Air's sales agent in Indonesia, said the company's aircraft would still fly to Surabaya on indirect flights from Taipei via Bali, Denpasar.

EVA Air currently makes shuttle flights from Taipei to both Surabaya and Denpasar three times a week.

Starting from Sept. 21, the company will only fly on a single route from Taipei to Denpasar and to Surabaya before going back to Taipei via Denpasar.

"We shall serve the Taipei-Denpasar-Surabaya route five days a week," Billy said.

He said passengers to Bali and Surabaya are all tourists but few people were currently interested in traveling to Surabaya.

"Tourists to Bali are still numerous," Billy said.

Aside from Surabaya and Denpasar, EVA Air also flies daily from Taipei to Jakarta with mostly business passengers.

According to Billy, the flight schedule on the Taipei-Jakarta route will be unchanged after Sept. 21.

Billy said EVA Air projected the load factor on the Taiwan- Indonesia route would drop to an average 65 percent this year from 80 percent last year, due to the monetary crisis.

The riots in the middle of May in Jakarta and several other towns, which left about 1,400 people dead and damaged thousands of properties mostly owned by Indonesian businessmen of Chinese descent, affected the airline's load factor severely until the end of June.

"Our load factor returned to normal as of July as people saw the country had gradually returned to normal," Billy said.

"Taiwan businessmen have returned to Indonesia, and tourists have returned in large number to Bali," he added.

Taiwan, which is one of the largest investors in Indonesia, has strongly criticized the Indonesian government for failing to protect Chinese people during the May unrest.

Several Taiwan politicians have even discouraged businessmen from investing in Indonesia in the wake of the violence. (jsk)