Garuda resumes flights of Airbus A-300 B4 fleet
Garuda resumes flights of Airbus A-300 B4 fleet
JAKARTA (JP): Garuda's fleet of Airbus A-300 B4s, one of which
crashed last week in Sibolangit, North Sumatra, killing all
people on board, has resumed operations after a routine
inspection.
The national carrier's spokesman, Pudjobroto, confirmed
yesterday that three of the eight airplanes had resumed their
normal operations on the Jakarta-Surabaya (East Java), Jakarta-
Denpasar (Bali), and Jakarta-Singapore routes.
"It is not true that the airplanes have been grounded because
of the accident in Sibolangit," Pudjobroto said, adding that the
three jets were registered as PKGAA, PKGAF and PKGAH.
The remaining five airplanes were still undergoing inspection,
he said.
An Airbus A-300 B4 flying from Jakarta to Medan, North
Sumatra, crashed minutes before it was due to land at Polonia
airport, killing the 222 passengers and 12 crew.
Garuda has gradually purchased a total of nine A-300 B4s since
the beginning of 1982.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Transportation, Bambang S.
Ervan, said yesterday that the government had never instructed
Garuda to ground the A-300 B4s.
Separately, the state-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines has
further extended the cancellation of its Jambi-Jakarta and Jambi-
Batam flights until Oct. 15 due to the thick haze shrouding
Jambi's Sultan Thaha Airport.
Merpati's district manager in Jambi, Ahmad Fauzi, was quoted
by Antara news agency as saying yesterday that the extension
meant a total of 101 flights to the airport had been canceled
since the first suspension last month.
Antara quoted Jambi's office of the transportation ministry as
saying that Merpati had lost about Rp 1 billion (US$294,117) in
revenue because of the halting of services.
Severe haze problems, caused by prolonged forest fires in
Sumatra, had reduced visibility in the vicinity to less than 100
meters, while the required visibility is 3,200 meter, it said.
The smog had disrupted air transportation activities in the
affected areas for more than one month.
Merpati said passengers traveling to and from the area were
served through Palembang (South Sumatra), a five to seven-hour
drive from Jambi. (das/icn)