Garuda to use 26 aircraft for haj pilgrimage

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)