Merpati to serve Tawao

Merpati to serve Tawao

JAKARTA (JP): Merpati Nusantara Airlines, a subsidiary of the
country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, will start serving a new
route linking Balikpapan in East Kalimantan with Tawao in East
Malaysia on Sunday, an executive said yesterday.

"The new service is expected to support sub-regional
cooperation involving Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and the
Philippines," Merpati's manager for East Kalimantan, Gatot
Budiono, was quoted by Antara as saying in Balikpapan.

He added that Merpati will serve the route with a Foker 28
aircraft on Thursdays and Sundays.

Merpati started services between Pekanbaru in Riau with Johor
in Malaysia and Ambon in Maluku with Darwin in Australia last
month.

The opening of the Balikpapan-Tawao route will increase the
number of regional routes served by Merpati to nine, including
the Kupang-Darwin, Denpasar-Port Hedland (Australia), Bandung-
Singapore, Pontianak-Singapore and Pekanbaru-Singapore.(31)