Merpati resumes service to Dili
Merpati resumes service to Dili
DILI, East Timor (AFP): An Indonesian civilian aircraft with government and airline officials aboard was the first plane to land here Monday when East Timor's main airport reopened to commercial flights.
The Merpati F-28 touched down at 12:35 p.m. (0435 GMT) at Dili's Comoro airport, the scene of last year's panicked evacuation at the onset of the sacking and burning of Dili by pro-Indonesian militia and military.
The twin-engined F-28 carried some 30 Indonesian airline and government, police and military officials to the UN-administered territory as well as an MP from Jakarta.
There are still no regularly-scheduled commercial flights to East Timor but the officials from Merpati were investigating the possibility of resuming service.
Shortly before the flight landed UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) officials raised the blue- and-white UN flag on a new flag pole near the tarmac, where it was saluted by 10 members of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF).
Airport officials had earlier removed a large cement Indonesian-language airport sign from the edge of the tarmac.
"We've opened the airport to regular public traffic," said Group Captain Stewart Cameron, of the RAAF.
"It's a fairly potent symbol to the world that business has resumed in East Timor," Cameron told journalists. "What we need to do now is get the East Timorese involved in the airport."
An RAAF member directed the Merpati jet to its parking spot on the tarmac, where two Royal New Zealand Air Force Huey helicopters had touched down minutes earlier to reinstall their door-mounted machine guns.
The RAAF still provides air traffic controllers and perimeter defense for the airport.
Sergio Vieira de Mello, who heads UNTAET, embraced Piet Tallo, governor of the neighboring Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, when he stepped off the aircraft.
Two officials from the National Council of Timorese Resistance, Jose Ramos-Horta and Joao Carrascalao, also welcomed the visitors, who bypassed UNTAET's new immigration check and went directly to a briefing in the airport's VIP lounge.
They were told the airport toilets do not work and its infrastructure is limited, but that the airport has been re- opened for commercial aviation to assist in East Timor's economic development.
An Australian charter airline operates three times a week from Darwin to Dili, but has yet to be approved by UNTAET.
On Friday de Mello told journalists Merpati was "very interested in resuming flights to Dili."
Until it ceased its service from the Indonesian cities of Jakarta, Denpasar and Kupang in August, Merpati ran the only regular commercial airline flights to East Timor.
The airline stopped landing in East Timor as violence increased around the August 30 ballot in which East Timorese voted for independence from Indonesia, which invaded the territory in 1975.
Dili's airport became a busy military landing field with round-the-clock arrivals of troops and supplies once international peacekeepers began their deployment on Sept. 20.
The airport still serves as a base for air operations of the International Force in East Timor (Interfet) and also hosts flights by the United Nations and aid organizations.
De Mello said an airline associated with the Australian carrier Qantas has also expressed interest in operating a regular service to Dili.
He said UNTAET's immigration service would be established by Monday, but that "customs may have to wait a bit longer."