Garuda prepares 24 jets for pilgrimage

JAKARTA (JP): The country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will deploy 24 jets to transport the 197,615 Moslems going on pilgrimage to Mecca this year, company president Soepandi said Thursday.

He said the pilgrims, in 474 groups, would be carried on 11 Boeing B-747s, two B-767s, four MD-11s and seven DC-10s.

He said Garuda, operating three of its own B-747s, would -- as usual-- lease 19 jets from foreign airlines. The foreign companies include Cors Air, Air Canada, Singapore Airlines, Air Liberty, Challenge Air, Britannia, OAM France, World Airways, Kuwait Airways and Tower Air of the United States.

Soepandi said starting this year the Adi Sumarmo airport in Surakarta (Central Java) would serve haj transportation, bringing the number of airports serving haj transportation to six.

Garuda plans to transport 17,150 people in 36 groups from the Polonia airport in Medan, North Sumatra; 89,611 in 189 groups from the Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta; 34,625 in 86 groups from the Juanda airport in Surabaya, East Java.

It will fly 21,189 pilgrims in 61 groups from the Hasanuddin airport in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi; 13,587 in 39 groups from the Sepinggan airport in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan; and 21,453 in 63 groups from Adi Sumarmo airport.

According to Soepandi, departures are scheduled between March 15 and April 10, while return flights will be between April 22 and May 18.

"The haj pilgrimage period will be cut to 27 days from 29 days last year," he said.

According to official data, there were 1,067 vacant seats in the 1994 haj pilgrimage season, which was joined by 192,000 Moslems. During last year's haj season, Garuda arranged for 23 jets to serve 194,728 pilgrims in 452 groups. In 1995, Garuda operated 24 jets serving 195,000 pilgrims in 454 groups.

Problems occurred last year in the five haj embarkation points of Ujungpandang, Surabaya, Medan, Balikpapan and Jakarta. Hundreds of pilgrims failed to leave on schedule due to chaos in the issuance of various documents.

The government estimates 240,000 Moslems may register to go to Mecca this year while the quota allotted by Saudi Arabia remains unchanged at 195,000. The government has announced there is no maximum limit on the number of Indonesians allowed to go on pilgrimage. (icn)