Flights full as storm fears unfounded

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A storm forecast by the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) has failed to deter holidaymakers from the beaches of Yogyakarta, Bali and Lombok, and just as well, as the warning has been declared a false alarm. Flight bookings and hotel reservations prior to the Chinese New Year and Islamic New Year holidays remain high, industry representatives said. "Media reports of a possible storm along Yogyakarta's south coast have had no influence on reservations for our flights this weekend," Adam Air public relations and promotions officer Dyah Puspawardhani, told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

She added that Adam Air had been putting people wanting to travel to Bali on a waiting list, particularly economy class passengers.

"So far, we haven't received any cancellations for the holiday period," she said.

As reported earlier, the BMG's Yogyakarta and East Java offices warned last week that a storm would soon strike the region, heading for Java's southern coastal areas between Feb. 8 and Feb. 13.

The BMG offices had said the storm was currently in Australian waters and was expected to move toward Indonesia.

However, the forecast was later dismissed by the head of forecasting and services at BMG's central office Achmad Zakir, who said on Monday that the storm would not hit Indonesia as it had naturally moved away from the equator line.

General manager/corporate secretary of state-owned Merpati Nusantara, Jaka Pujiyono, said his airlines had actually received more reservations for the holiday period since the warning was issued.

"Our load factor has increased by 5 percent this week from an average of 75 percent in previous weeks," he said.

Hotel reservations have not dropped due to the warning either.

"Reservations for Yogyakarta, Bali and Lombok through our travel agent have not been influenced," said Agus, a reservation officer at Puri Tour Travel Agent.

Sales and marketing manager of Panorama Management Company, Tom McIfle, said reports on the possible storm did not affect flight reservations booked through his travel agent, as most clients had reserved seats on flights to their hometowns -- mostly Medan, Palembang, Pontianak and Surabaya.

He added reservations for international flights to Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, China and Australia remained stable, at about 20 percent of the agency's total reservations.

Lanny Pohan, who works for an insurance company, said she had ignored the forecast and planned to travel to Bali this week.

"Of course, I listen to the news," she told the Post. "But it (false alarms) often happens in Indonesia." (004)