Garuda to use 26 aircraft for haj pilgrimage

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has approved the deployment of 12 aircraft made before 1982 to transport Indonesian haj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia starting next week, a minister said yesterday.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said Garuda Indonesia would deploy 26 jets to transport the 202,000 pilgrims, including three made before 1980 which would be kept in reserve.

Nine of the airplanes were made between 1980 and 1982, and 14 after 1982. The minister said he had to ask for the President's approval because the latter previously ordered that only planes made after 1982 were to be used.

"We asked for the President's approval because, according to the President's latest instruction, we must use jets made after 1982," Haryanto said after meeting with Soeharto at the Bina Graha presidential office.

During the meeting Haryanto was accompanied by Minister of Health Sujudi, Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher, and Garuda's president Soepandi, all of whose offices are involved in this year's haj operation.

"The President's instruction is to check the planes, including their airworthiness and safety," Haryanto noted.

Tarmizi said the first of 456 batches of pilgrims would leave for Saudi Arabia on March 6, while the last groups would depart on March 31. He did not say when the massive operation to bring home the pilgrims would begin, but said it would end on May 21.

The pilgrims will embark from six airports; Halim Perdanakusuma in Jakarta; Juanda in Surabaya, East Java; Hasanuddin in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi; Polonia in Medan, North Sumatra; Sepinggan in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan and Adisumarmo in Surakarta, Central Java.

Tarmizi said that all the state agencies involved in this year's haj operation had been working together well, including in the processing of the pilgrims' passports and visas.

He said the government had trained 2,425 people, including guides, paramedics and doctors, to serve the pilgrims.

"The President ordered those officials to give their best service possible to the pilgrims because most of them are villagers with only elementary school education," Tarmizi noted.

The haj fee for this year is Rp 8.8 million, which was set in August when the rupiah was worth about 3,000 to the U.S. dollar. The government has decided not to cause a greater burden on the pilgrims by raising the price.

Last year, at least 664 Indonesian pilgrims died in Saudi Arabia, mostly of heart failure and lung diseases, according to the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

"The President also told us to pay particular attention to the stock of medicines for the pilgrims," Tarmizi said. (prb)