Ternate travelers are left stranded

TERNATE, Maluku: Each day several dozen passengers holding valid tickets to fly between here and Manado, North Sulawesi, on Merpati Nusantara Airlines are left stranded at Babullah airport.

North Maluku regent Abdullah Assagaf told Antara that some 40 passengers are stranded at the airport because the airline's Fokker-27 and Cassa 225 planes are overbooked.

The overbooking is being caused by the sudden discontinuation of the service formerly provided between the two cities by PT Bouraq Airlines.

Azis Nuhung, head of Babullah airport, said that Bouraq stopped serving the route due to a shortage of planes following the recent crash of one of its planes in Irian Jaya.(mds)