Haj planes refuel at Hang Nadim

Haj planes refuel at Hang Nadim

JAKARTA (JP): The government has shifted the refueling base of several flights carrying haj pilgrims from Singapore's Changi airport to Batam's Hang Nadim airport, saying that the change can save up to US$2 million in operational costs.

Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher said 113 flights carrying haj pilgrims from the embarkation points of Sepinggan airport in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, and Hasanuddin airport in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, have been rerouted this year to refuel at Batam.

"After making comparisons, we concluded it was cheaper by 2 U.S. cents per liter to stop over at Batam. It was also more time-saving," he said as quoted by Antara.

The station manager of state-owned PT Garuda Indonesia in Batam, Musaha, said that for every Boeing-747 aircraft, 95 kiloliters of fuel are needed.

Since the haj pilgrims started being flown to Mecca last week, 14 flights so far have stopped to refuel at Hang Nadim, Musaha said.

He explained that the short runways (less than 2,500 meters) at Sepinggan and Hasanuddin do not allow fully-loaded aircraft to take off with their fuel tanks filled to maximum capacity. Thus they have to be refilled after flying for about two hours.

Tarmizi said that before choosing Hang Nadim to replace Changi as a refueling base, the government conducted try-outs at Medan's Polonia airport in North Sumatra. However, the results proved less favorable.

Hang Nadim airport, whose expansion was officially inaugurated by President Soeharto last December, can accommodate 40 flights a day. With a runway of 4,025 meters, the airport is currently also preparing to allow foreign carriers, such as Lufthansa, KLM and Eva Air, to land planes.

Garuda Indonesia, the country's flag carrier, has allocated 23 aircraft and a total of 453 flights to carry 195,000 haj pilgrims headed to Mecca this year. (pwn)