Garuda suspends flights to S'pore

Garuda suspends flights to S'pore

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Garuda Indonesia has temporarily
suspended its daily flights from here to Singapore and Malaysia
due to a sharp decline in the number of passengers over the last
few months, an official said Saturday.

The Garuda sales manager for its Medan office, Arjo K.
Bardijan, said the economic crisis and the rupiah's free fall
against the U.S. dollar was the main reason for the drop in
sales.

Garuda will resume flights to the two countries from Medan on
March 1.

The government's Feb. 5 decision to increase the departure tax
imposed on residents leaving the country by airplane from Rp
250,000 (US$25) to Rp 1 million may also have had an adverse
effect on the number of people traveling abroad.

"I am sure the decline is not caused by the tax," Arjo said
firmly.

Arjo disclosed that Garuda was also forced to reduce its
flights from Medan to Banda Aceh from two flights to one flight
per day.

Normal flights will be resumed when the number of passengers
increases, Arjo said. (21/prb)