Jakarta-Palembang route fully booked

PALEMBANG, South Sumatera: Those planning to buy airplane tickets for the Jakarta-Palembang route may be in for a long wait as a surge in passengers in the past few weeks has left air tickets in short supply.

Sofyan Anwar, General Manager of the Garuda Indonesia office here said there had been a significant jump in passengers in the past two months from the usual average of 8,500 per month to 10,200.

The rise in the number of passengers is reportedly related to the number of meetings and conferences here.

Meanwhile, Srianto Senoadi, sales manager of the Merpati Nusantara Airlines office here also said that "no more seats are available, because we're booked through till next week."

In a bid to cope with the increased demand both airlines are either increasing flight frequency or using a larger airplane.(33)