Feisal to head haj delegation

Feisal to head haj delegation

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has appointed Armed Forces
Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung leader to some 194,000 Indonesians
taking part in the haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia this year.

Maj. Gen. Sukarya Abdulgani, the inspector general of the
Ministry of Religious Affairs, told reporters on Wednesday Feisal
would be on one of the last flights out of Indonesia before the
pilgrimage reaches its climax on Idul Adha (Sacrifice Day) on
April 28.

The President has always appointed a senior government
official to head the Indonesian delegation. Last year, the honor
went to Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher.

The government plans to fly out the 194,000 Indonesians
registered for this year's pilgrimage on 455 flights in a massive
operation starting Saturday. The operation to bring the pilgrims
home will last from May 2 to May 30.

The number of Indonesians taking part in the holy pilgrimage
is down from last year's 196,000, a record number.

The country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will deploy 23
jets to transport the pilgrims to Mecca, Director General of Air
Transportation Zainuddin Sikado said on Wednesday.

He said the aircraft would include four Boeing B-747-200s
operated by Garuda and 19 other aircraft leased from foreign
airlines.

The leased aircraft consists of three B-747-200s from Tower
Air of the United States, one B-747-300 from Corsa Air of France
and one from Qantas of Australia, three B-747-200s from Singapore
Airlines and Kuwait Airways.

There would be also one DC-10 and six MD-11s leased from World
Airways of the U.S., one DC-10 from Belgian Challenge Air and
three other DC-10s from AOM France, he said.

Five airports will serve the haj transportation.

They are the Sepinggan airport in Balikpapan of East
Kalimantan, the Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta, and the
Juanda airport in Surabaya of East Java. The other two are the
Hasanuddin airport in Ujungpandang of South Sulawesi and the
Polonia airport in Medan of North Sumatra.

Sikado said that nine B-747s with 4,320 seats will be prepared
in Halim, six MD-11s with 4,499 seats in Juanda, four DC-10s
with 1,420 seats in Hasanuddin, two B-747s with 960 seats in
Polonia and two DC-10s with 710 seats in Sepinggan.

Sikado said that Garuda would receive this year some US$331
million from haj transportation as a pilgrim should pay an
airfare of $1,700, the same rate in 1995 when Garuda prepared 25
jets to transport 196,854 pilgrims.

Meanwhile, Merpati Nusantara Airlines, a subsidiary of the
national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia which plies domestic
routes, will set 230 additional operations to serve this year's
haj pilgrims.

The company's president, Budiarto, said on Wednesday that
Merpati would deploy three types of Fokker aircraft, F-100s, F-
28s and F-27s to transport 21,121 people.

He said that the extra flights would not affect Merpati's
regular schedules all over the country. (icn/01)