Merpati receives 1st BAe-146 plane

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)