Merpati to open city check-in counter

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)