Merpati cancels Jambi flights

Merpati cancels Jambi flights

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines will
extend the cancellation of its Jambi-Jakarta flights until Sept.
30, due to the thick haze shrouding Jambi's Sultan Thaha airport,
Antara reported yesterday.

Merpati's district manager for Jambi Ahmad Fauzi said his
office had canceled at least 67 flights, resulting in an
estimated Rp 800 million ($266,000) loss to the company.

The cancellation of the Jambi-Jakarta route and Jambi-Batam
route has been carried out since early this month after the
Sultan Thaha airport was forced to close due to thick haze.

The airline operates several Fokker-28s, each with a 80-seat
capacity, to serve the Jambi-Jakarta route twice a day and Jambi-
Batam route twice a week.

The thick haze has also forced PT Mandala Airlines, a private
national airlines, to temporarily suspend its Jambi-Jakarta
service. The airline's F-28 aircraft flies the route once a day.

"We have not sold any Jakarta-Jambi tickets since early
September," a member of staff at Mandala's representative office
in Jambi said.

Since the airport's closing, flights to Jakarta have been
redirected via Palembang, 280 kilometers from Jambi.

Poor visibility from the thick smoke caused by forest fires
has been blamed for the cancellation or delay of more than 1,000
flights into and out of nine airports in Indonesia in the past
three months. (08)