Merpati to operate eight more aircraft

JAKARTA (JP): Merpati Nusantara Airlines, a subsidiary of state-owned Garuda Indonesia Airlines, will soon operate eight more jet aircraft, according to the airline's president.

Budiarto Subroto said Wednesday the new aircraft were two Airbus 300-600, three Boeing 737-200 and three BAE-146.

"All the aircraft will be operated under an operating-lease system," he said at the launch of the airline's new tour packages.

He said Merpati would offer several domestic and regional tour packages as of Feb. 1. It expects to attract about 15,000 tourists this year and 25,000 a year by 1999.

One of the packages includes trips to 14 tourist destinations such as Lake Toba in North Sumatra, Minangkabau in West Sumatra, Toraja in Central Sulawesi, Manado in North Sulawesi, Ambon, Lombok and Bali.

This package, dubbed Paket Wisata Pesona Indonesia '97, will be run by Merpati and the Smailing Tur travel agent.

Another package includes a visit to the tomb of President Soeharto's late wife, Tien Soeharto, at the Astana Giribangun, Karanganyar, cemetery in Solo, Central Java.

Budiarto said that 100 people a week were expected to use this package, launched in conjunction with Sahid Hotel.

Regional packages will include trips to Malaysia and Singapore. These will be run in conjunction with the travel agents Lion Tur and Busindo Ayanda Tur.

Merpati will start flying between Jakarta and Singapore from Feb. 1, using a Fokker 100 which can hold up to 98 people.

These flights will leave Soekarno-Hatta airport at 7:05 p.m. and arrive at 9:40 Singapore time. The flight is scheduled to return to Jakarta at 11:25, arriving at 23:25.

Earlier, Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said that Merpati had suffered an estimated loss of Rp 137.12 billion (US$57.27 million) last year, up from Rp 132 billion in 1995. (02)