Foreign airlines beef up their Indonesian services

Foreign airlines beef up their Indonesian services

TOKYO (Agencies): Japanese carriers All Nippon Airways and
Japan Airlines will set up special flights to Indonesia to
accommodate the flood of Japanese nationals fleeing the country,
the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Starting today, the two airlines will send 11 extra flights to
Indonesia over three days, the ministry said.

The flights can transport about 3,400 passengers back to
Japan, it said.

In Manila, Philippine Airlines Inc. said it would use larger
aircraft on its Jakarta service to fly more Filipinos out of
Indonesia.

"PAL's regular flight to Jakarta today and tomorrow, using the
246-seater A300B4 aircraft, has been upgraded to the 390-seater
Boeing 747-200 jumbo jet," the company said in a statement.

"With the upgrading, 144 more Filipinos can be flown back to
Manila."

On Tuesday, the airline's regular flight using the 141-seater
Boeing 737-300 will also be upgraded to the A300B4, which would
increase seating capacity by 105, the statement said.

The Philippine foreign ministry estimates there are about
3,000 Filipinos in Indonesia, about 2,000 of them in Jakarta.

Three special Singapore Airlines (SIA) flights meanwhile flew
home yesterday carrying 1,131 people from Jakarta, state television
said.

It quoted Singapore's Ambassador to Indonesia, Edward Lee, as
saying more than 800 of the passengers were Singaporeans.

Singapore television quoted Lee as saying help had been given
to Singaporeans without funds or passports. Passengers only had to
sign a form and pay for their tickets later. Those without
passports were issued with certificates of travel.

It quoted SIA as saying it would operate large Boeing 747
aircraft over the next three days on its services from Jakarta. SIA
normally operates Airbus A310s, which carry 183 passengers, on the
route. The 747s can carry 400 passengers.

SIA would mount three additional flights on each of the next
three days. Two extra flights departed for Jakarta on Friday night.

The Australian government said yesterday it had arranged for
commercial charter flights to assist Australians wishing to leave
Indonesia.

The move was necessary because of the high demand for seats on
scheduled flights from the country, said a statement issued by
Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer.

The first of the chartered flights is expected to leave
Jakarta early today, the statement said.

Defense force assets, including aircraft, are also ready to
pull Australians out if needed, the statement said.

"As a precautionary measure also, the government has decided
to increase the state of readiness of Australian defense force
assets, including aircraft, against the possibility that they might
be needed to assist the departure of Australians from Indonesia,"
the statement said.

Britain said it was laying on extra flights out of Indonesia
and urged British expatriates to consider leaving.

The Foreign Office also advised Britons not to travel to the
country unless their journey was essential.

In a travel advice notice, the Foreign Office said British
Airways was running an additional flight from Jakarta to Kuala
Lumpur on Saturday.

"British Airways hopes to run other additional flights
subsequently, depending on demand," the Foreign Office said.

The Hong Kong government has asked Cathay Pacific Airways to
provide a special flight to evacuate Hong Kong residents stranded
by rioting in Indonesia, a top official said yesterday.

Secretary for Security Peter Lai the flight was to leave
Jakarta yesterday for Singapore. Passengers would deplane there and
continue to their destinations on different airlines, he said.

Cathay Pacific, Asia's biggest carrier, has switched from
Airbus planes to the bigger Boeing 747-400 on all flights from
Jakarta, "the biggest we could have," said a Cathay Pacific
employee in Hong Kong, who gave her first name as Martina.

Flights were delayed as the airline was trying to make sure it
was getting out everyone who wanted to leave.

A private security firm, Jardine Securicor Services, has
loaned its 130-vehicle fleet to the Chinese embassy to coordinate
departures from Jakarta, Lai said.