Merpati to open city check-in counter

JAKARTA (JP): Merpati Nusantara Airlines, a subsidiary of the national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will open a city check-in counter next month for passengers traveling from Jakarta and Surabaya, East Java.

Merpati's spokesperson, Agus Soedjono said yesterday the new service will begin on Jan. 1 at the Gambir railway station in Central Jakarta and Gubeng railway station in Surabaya.

Passengers will be carried from the stations to the airports aboard air-conditioned buses.

He said the facilities, open 24 hours, will also provide ticketing services.

Yesterday Merpati received its fifth new F-100 aircraft at Soekarno-Hatta airport, strengthening its fleet to 86 aircraft, including four F-100s, six DC-9s, 22 F-28s, 13 F-27s, 14 CN-235s, five advanced turbo propellers (ATPs), 11 Cassa-212s, 10 Twin Otters.

In a related development Garuda Indonesia and Merpati Nusantara announced yesterday additional flights to meet the seasonal increase demand for passenger services during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Garuda said it will operate 74 additional flights between Dec. 21 and Jan. 3. Last year, the air carrier operated 137 additional flights with more than 50,000 seats during the same season.

Garuda's extra flights, providing 12,360 seats, will cover the Jakarta-Brisbane, Jakarta-Perth, Jakarta-Solo (Central Java), Jakarta-Yogyakarta, Jakarta-Batam and Jakarta-Denpasar routes. The airline will operate Airbus 300-600, Boeing 737-400 and B-737-300 for the extra flights.

Merpati's spokesperson Agus Soedjono said his company will operate 34 additional services between Dec. 20 and Jan. 3 for the Bandung-Singapore, Surabaya-Denpasar, Pekanbaru-Batam, Medan- Padang, Jakarta-Yogyakarta and Surabaya-Bandung routes.

He said Merpati will open a 24-hour reservation service during the holidays.(icn)