Garuda's flights to Australia continue

JAKARTA (JP): National airline Garuda Indonesia said on Thursday that flights to Australia would run as scheduled, despite a boycott by the neighboring country's transport workers.

Pujobroto, Garuda vice president for corporate communications, said the protests only affected its Melbourne flights while services to other cities were not disturbed.

"As of today, there has no change in the flight schedules to Australia," he told The Jakarta Post.

Besides Melbourne, Garuda also serves six other cities including Sydney, Adelaide, Darwin, Cairns, Perth and Brisbane.

Melbourne's Airline Service Union decided on Tuesday not to handle the airways' cargoes as a protest against Indonesia's handling of the bloody riots in troubled East Timor. The boycott was also supported by other workers' unions.

But Pujobroto said that Garuda still serves Melbourne as usual.

On Wednesday, members of the Australian Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) marched on the international terminal of Melbourne Airport and blocked the check-in process in an attempt to prevent an 11 a.m. Garuda flight to Bali via Sydney from departing.

The flight left at 11:45 a.m., but without at least 100 passengers, who were later bussed to hotels or put on other carriers.

Pujobroto said the airline deplored the incident and said the management was still looking for an appropriate solution.

Australian airline Qantas, which holds Garuda's ground handling contract, is supposed to help the national airline in dealing with unions.

"Qantas has a contract with us and it is also obliged to help us, including handling the ongoing protests and cargo boycott. Hopefully Qantas will be able to do something about this matter," he told the Post.

CFMEU's Victorian secretary Martin Kingham has warned that the union action would escalate and spread to Qantas if the airline started flying Garuda passengers to Indonesia.

At least 350,000 Australians visited Indonesia last year on Garuda and Australian airlines Ansett and Qantas, with 55 flights every week among them. (01)