Merpati's 629 extra flights

Merpati's 629 extra flights

JAKARTA (JP): Merpati Nusantara Airlines, a subsidiary of the country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, will start operating 629 extra domestic flights today to support the transportation of haj pilgrims.

Merpati's spokesman, Tondo Widodo, said yesterday that his company will operate a number of Fokker-100s, DC-9s, Fokker-28s, Fokker-27s and CN-235s to transport haj pilgrims to and from five airports, including the Halim Perdanakusuma airport in Jakarta, the Juanda airport in Surabaya of East Java, the Hasanuddin airport in Ujungpandang of South Sulawesi, the Polonia airport in Medan of North Sumatra and the Sepinggan airport in Balikpapan of East Kalimantan.

He said that the extra services, which will continue through April 29, will include those for the routes of Surabaya- Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan)-Surabaya (75 times), Surabaya- Ampenan (Lombok of West Nusa Tenggara)-Surabaya (48 times) and Jakarta-Palangkaraya (Central Kalimantan)-Jakarta (20 times).

Merpati, which began to fly two Boeing 737-200 jets over the weekend, currently operates a total of 87 aircrafts.(icn)