Outbound airline passengers rise

JAKARTA (JP): Several foreign airlines are fully booked for outbound trips this month as concern grows over security in the country ahead of the general election.

Emirates airlines said on Monday seats on all outbound flights were fully booked for the period from May 9 to May 27.

"The number of people who have booked seats to Singapore during the period has increased to between 80 and 90 per flight, as against between 20 and 30 on normal days," the United Arab Emirates state-owned airline manager for Indonesia John Rotikan said.

"There are even several days which have been overbooked, that we might have to place on seats allocated for long-haul travelers," Rotikan added.

Rotikan said some local travel agencies had asked Emirates to add flights to accommodate the flood of outbound travelers, however the airline said all its aircraft had busy schedules.

Emirates serves the return flights from Dubai, Colombo, Singapore and Jakarta three times a week on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Company sales manager Ilonka Leiwakabessy said some people were probably leaving the country to avoid unrest expected during the election campaigning.

"But, don't forget that school children also start their long holiday during that period," Ilonka said.

Political campaigns will start on May 19 to prepare for the general election scheduled for June 7.

Some people expect the political rallies to become violent, causing fear among expatriates and Chinese-Indonesians, who were the main target of violence in the big riots in May last year.

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airlines is also experiencing an increase in demand, with a spokeswoman saying on Monday that "traffic out of Jakarta is starting to fill".

Company marketing communications manager Ida Bayuni said almost all flights to overseas destinations, including Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States, were fully booked for the period between May 6 and May 26, except for a couple of days.

Ida noted, however, that tickets had not been issued or confirmed, "as people tend to book reservations first".

"From May 27, the booking load drops," Ida said.

Cathay Pacific flies 10 times a week from Jakarta to Hong Kong, including seven times via Singapore, twice a week from Surabaya to Hong Kong, and every day from Denpasar to Hong Kong.

However, Singapore-based Singapore Airlines, which is thus far the largest foreign airline to serve the Singapore-Jakarta route, reported no sharp rise in the number of passengers to Singapore.

"Seats are still available at Singapore Airlines every day throughout this month. There isn't any exodus of Chinese- Indonesians out of Jakarta as claimed by some people," company public relations manager Susi Charma said.

Susi admitted there was an increase in the number of passengers traveling overseas this month but said it was normal in May and June because of people leaving for the school holidays.

Susi also noted that inbound passengers almost equal the number of outbound passengers at present.

Singapore Airlines flies seven times a day from Jakarta to Singapore, nine times a week from Surabaya to Singapore and three times a day from Denpasar to Singapore. (jsk)