Soepandi on delayed flight

JAKARTA (JP): The president of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, Soepandi, was caught in one of his airline's notorious delays Friday when he had to wait for three hours at Ngurah Rai airport in Denpasar, Bali.

According to Antara, Soepandi and several fellow-Golkar campaigners had to wait because the carrier's MD-11 aircraft -- flight number GA 801 -- to Jakarta had technical problems.

After three hours, Soepandi instructed flight GA 954 -- a B747-200 aircraft headed for Hong Kong -- to take on board the MD-11's passengers and make a stopover in Jakarta.

While at Ngurah Rai, Soepandi personally checked the MD-11 aircraft which had just arrived from Los Angeles. He discovered that there was no engine problem, although the alarm light indicating engine failure would not switch off.

"There's nothing wrong with the engine. Maybe it's only the electricity cables which are damaged," he said. (pwn)