EVA Air upbeat on RI flights

EVA Air upbeat on RI flights

JAKARTA (JP): Taiwan's EVA Air said the flow of passengers
from Taiwan to Indonesia remained strong despite security fears
ahead of the June 7 general election.

"We are overbooked for trips to Bali and have quite a few
passengers for Jakarta starting from May and it should continue
strong until June," EVA Air Indonesia country manager Makmun
Hamsa said here on Wednesday.

Makmun said the company's current load factor in Indonesia was
between 60 percent and 64 percent.

He also said EVA Air would give more attention to its cargo
business because the world's cargo business had shown strong
growth over the past few years.

He said the company signed a purchase deal on May 5 in Taipei
to add two new cargo aircraft to its fleet between July and
August this year and another three cargo aircraft by early 2000.

The five new aircraft are two MD-11 freighters and three
Boeing 747-400 freighters.

The airline provides a daily round-trip flight from Jakarta to
Taiwan and five weekly round-trip flights from Surabaya and
Denpasar to Taiwan. (udi)