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.