Outbound airline passengers rise

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)