Flights fully booked until first week of January

Flights fully booked until first week of January

JAKARTA (JP): City residents planning to celebrate Christmas
and the once-in-a-lifetime millennium rollover abroad should be
ready to face the unpleasant fact that all flights from Jakarta
to several local and international destinations are fully booked.

Interviewed separately on Tuesday and Wednesday, airline and
travel agent operators admitted that seats on flights bound for
overseas and local popular holiday destinations, such as Bali and
Lombok, were fully reserved beginning this weekend until the
first week of January 2000.

According to a reservation staff member at Singapore Airlines,
Yati, all the airline's flights from Jakarta to several
destinations abroad were fully booked starting from this
Saturday.

"Seats are only available after Jan. 11," she said.

The same strong business, a sure sign of economic recovery in
the country, is also enjoyed at the Qantas Airways office here.

"All seats are booked for our flights beginning from Dec. 17,"
Ratna, a local staffer at Qantas, said.

In anticipation of a possible influx of holidaymakers, flag
carrier Garuda Indonesia Airways and Merpati Nusantara Airlines
will provide extra flights to certain local destinations and also
to Singapore.

The same policy will also be carried out by the two airlines
during Idul Fitri, when Muslims celebrate the end of Ramadhan,
which may fall on Jan. 9.

Garuda, for example, will begin operating its extra flights,
effective from Dec. 24 to Jan. 4, with 5,570 total extra seats on
aircraft serving six routes, consisting of those flying to
Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Palembang, Pekanbaru, Denpasar and
Singapore.

Separately, head of public relations at Merpati Nusantara,
Imam Turidy, said his firm would lay on 68 extra flights from
Jakarta to Medan, Denpasar and Makassar.

"Almost all of the extra flights will be effective from Dec.
21 to Jan. 14," he said.

Some travel agents have said that it would be almost
impossible for travelers to make new reservations in the days
leading up to the holidays.

The manager of Bayu Buana tours and travel's Kelapa Gading
branch in East Jakarta, Haryanto, said that overseas flights had
been fully booked since Dec. 20.

"Most of the travelers are spending their holidays celebrating
New Year's Eve at popular tourist destinations, such as those in
Asia, Europe and Australia," he said.

Tour groups

His office is handling 12 outbound tour groups for this year's
annual festive season.

According to Haryanto, those who were well-off preferred to
celebrate this year's unforgettable New Year's Eve overseas,
since the momentous event coincides with the Muslim fasting month
of Ramadhan.

For them, enjoying the jovial night in Jakarta could cause
some upset among those who were fasting, he said.

Nike, a ticketing staffer at the Anta tours and travel agency,
said his company found that most of the annual travelers were
leaving Jakarta until Idul Fitri.

A ticketing employee at the Atlantic tours and travel agency,
Theresia, said the business was much different from the same
period last year when the country was badly hit by the economic
crisis.

"This year, we have full reservations. I think it is likely to
cover last year's poor business," she said.

According to Theresia, the only available flights at her firm
were for those on Dec. 31, which has been widely dubbed as the
most crucial time for the possible impact of the millennium, or
Y2K, bug.

"There have been no reservations for that date at our office.
I think people have decided to avoid Dec. 31, whereas most
airlines have rescheduled their flights for that day," she said.

The airline industry is one of sectors most likely to be
affected by the millennium bug which occur when computers fail to
read 2000 as the next year and may revert back to 1900 causing
widespread havoc.

Due to the problem, several foreign airlines operating in
Indonesia have rescheduled or canceled their flights on New
Year's Eve.

Other travel agents also reported a low demand for flights
during the millennium rollover.

Hotels

Meanwhile, the management at several hotels revealed their
optimism that occupancy rates would increase during the changing
of the millennium.

"I think there are a lot of people, such as bankers, who can't
have a holiday on that day because they have to be on alert for
any possible impact of the Y2K problem.

"I hope such people will stay at hotels to celebrate New
Year's Eve," said Rully Rachman, director of sales at the
Shangri-La hotel in Central Jakarta .

He said more than 40 percent of the hotel's 668 rooms had
already been booked for the special evening.

"I'm optimistic that the occupancy rate will later reach 60
percent".

Nur'aini B Prapdanu, the public relations manager at Hotel
Horison at the Ancol dreamland park in North Jakarta, said the
occupancy rate for millennium eve celebrations had reached about
80 percent of the hotel's total of 440 rooms.

A senior public relations officer at the Hilton hotel in
Central Jakarta said that about 450 of the hotel's 1,100 rooms
had been reserved. (ind)