Garuda launches Jakarta-Batam-Jeddah route
BATAM, Riau (JP): The state-owned airline Garuda Indonesia launched its Jakarta-Batam-Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, route yesterday, becoming the first scheduled international flight via Batam's Hang Nadim international airport.
The maiden flight by a DC10 aircraft departed Jakarta yesterday morning, carrying some 210 passengers including Garuda president Soepandi and Batam Authority executive chairman S. Djatmiko. When the flight landed in Batam, there was a ceremony.
The plane then continued to Jeddah carrying about 30 passengers.
"In line with the national development plan in general and the Batam development plan in particular, Garuda Indonesia wants to make Batam a new distribution center for its flights in western Indonesia, like Denpasar is in eastern Indonesia," Soepandi said yesterday.
Garuda Indonesia will fly the Jakarta-Batam-Jeddah route as a round trip every Wednesday using DC10 aircraft. Every Monday and Friday it will fly DC10s on the Jakarta-Jeddah route as a round trip without stopping in Batam.
The airline used to run three direct flights a week from Jakarta to Jeddah.
Garuda Indonesia plans to move its transit point from Singapore to Batam soon for its Jakarta-London flights, because Singapore transits are inefficient, Soepandi said.
"In Singapore, we are not allowed to take passengers and we must pay higher ground-handling fees and refueling costs. So it's better for us to transit it Batam," he said.
Hang Nadim airport offers 48 percent cheaper ground-handling fees and 5 percent to 15 percent cheaper aviation fuel than Singapore's Changi airport.
Soepandi said he was optimistic other international airlines would use Hang Nadim airport as a transit point for international flights because of the savings.
Hang Nadim airport has been renovated to an international standard costing Rp 500 billion (US$217.4 million). Its runway was extended to 4,000 meters. The runway at the country's main airport, Cengkareng, stretches only 3,650 meters.
Large jets, including Boeing B-747-400s, can land at Hang Nadim.
The renovated airport was opened by President Soeharto late last year. But only chartered international flights had used it until Garuda launched its new service yesterday.
The government has made Hang Nadim the country's main cargo airport. It recently ordered all foreign cargo jets to land there.
The Garuda Indonesia Batam general manager, Iskandar Basro, said Garuda wanted to improve its service for costumers wanting to join the pilgrimage to Mecca.
"Of 70,000 Indonesian umroh pilgrims to Mecca every year, only 10 percent of them fly Garuda. The rest go via Singapore or Kuala Lumpur aboard foreign flights, because they find that going via Jakarta is more expensive," he said.
Umroh pilgrims are pilgrims who go to Mecca outside the haj season.
Garuda Indonesia plans to open Medan-Batam, Pekanbaru-Batam, Padang-Batam and Palembang-Batam routes in April 1997 to get more pilgrims to use its service. Merpati also plans to fly direct from Kalimantan to Batam then.
He said the new flights were motivating the Saudi Arabian government to open a consulate in Batam in future to simplify the processing of pilgrims' visas.
Garuda Indonesia also wants to fly Filipino workers, who now transit in Jakarta, to and from Saudi Arabia.
Philippines Airlines, he said, had agreed to start flying from Manila to Batam in April, 1997, to serve workers going to Saudi Arabia. They will fly Garuda to Saudi Arabia. (jsk)