Merpati opens two new routes to Malaysia

JAKARTA (JP): PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines, a subsidiary of the national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, will begin new flight services to Tawau and Johor Baru in Malaysia.

Merpati, which recently started a route between Ambon and Darwin in Australia, will open the Ujungpandang (S. Sulawesi)- Balikpapan (E. Kalimantan)-Tawau service on Sunday, A. Tondo Widodo, a public relations officer of the airline said here yesterday.

He added that the route would be served by Fokker-28s on Thursdays and Sundays.

Widodo said the airline would also open another border- crossing service linking Surabaya in East Java and Johor Baru twice a week starting on Aug. 17.

The service on Thursdays and Sundays will use Boeing 737-200 aircraft.

Merpati, he added, will start a new flight service between Pekanbaru of the Riau archipelago and Johor Baru on Aug. 17. The service on Thursdays and Sundays will operate Fokker-28 aircraft.

Widodo said the border-crossing flight services were quite promising in view of the large number of Indonesians working in Malaysia.

"There are about 300,000 Indonesians, mostly from Ujungpandang and Balikpapan, who work in Tawau and another 400,000 in Johor Baru," he said. (04)