Merpati receives 1st BAe-146 plane

JAKARTA (JP): Merpati Nusantara, the subsidiary of national carrier Garuda Indonesia, received the first of 10 BAe-146-100 airplanes yesterday.

Merpati's president, Budiarto Subroto, said the new plane was one of 10 BAe-146-100 jets Merpati would lease from Australia's National Jet System.

Merpati will get the 10 planes by early 1999.

"We will replace our aging aircraft, like the Fokker F-27s and the ATPs (Advanced Turbo Propellers), with the BAe-146s which are appropriate with most of the airports in Indonesia, including the country's eastern part," he said after receiving the aircraft at the Soekarno-Hatta airport yesterday.

The BAe-146-100 (Jumbo Lino) was made by British Aerospace.

The planes Merpati will get were all made after 1990.

The Textron Lycoming LF 507-1 engined plane has a 9,889- kilogram maximum payload and can land on and take off from short runways.

NJS's manager of international development, George Marlow, said "NJS extends engineering, maintenance and other supporting services like cabin attendance training".

He said the deal was worth about US$200 million over five years.

Budiarto said Merpati would use its first BAe-146 on the Jakarta-Semarang route.

The 84-seat plane will leave the Soekarno-Hatta airport for Semarang three times a day.

He said Merpati would get the second BAe-146 soon to link Jakarta and Surabaya via Semarang. (icn)