Wamena airport to be upgraded

JAYAPURA, Irian Jaya: Wamena airport will be upgraded to accommodate Boeing 737 passenger airplanes by 2004.

The head of the provincial transportation office, HF Nelwan, said here yesterday that construction had begun with the extension of the airport's 1,400-meter runway.

According to Antara, the airport currently can only accommodate the smaller Fokker 28, Fokker 27 and Hercules airplanes.

"Five airlines regularly fly between Jayapura and Wamena, namely Trigana, Yanabri, Merpati, Airfast and one owned by missionaries. Planes land and take off at the airport dozens of times a day," Nelwan said.

The airport earns at least Rp 1 billion (US$ 278,000) in annual revenue, he added.

There were no details on how much the airport upgrading would cost. (mds)