Garuda Indonesia Moves to New Terminal to Boost Tourist Arrivals

Jakarta Globe, Dames Alexander Sinaga, April 05, 2017

Garuda Indonesia will move all its international flights to the new Terminal 3
 at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport starting on May 1. (Photo
courtesy of beritasatu.com)

Jakarta. Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will try to help increase international tourist arrivals by moving its international flight operations from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

The Tourism Ministry has asked for airport operator Angkasa Pura II's help to attract an additional 700,000 international visitors to Indonesia this year. Garuda plans to help achieve the target by streamlining its passengers' path through the airport.

Currently the airline operates flights from two terminals at Soekarno-Hatta — domestic flights from Terminal 3 and international flights from Terminal 2. But soon all Garuda flights will use Terminal 3 and passengers will no longer need to move between terminals to catch a connecting flight.

"The new Terminal 3 will be a bigger and better hub for us," Garuda Indonesia chief executive Arif Wibowo said in a statement.

Angkasa Pura II president director Muhammad Awaluddin confirmed the plan to move Garuda Indonesia's international flights to Terminal 3, saying it would help the airport to take in more passengers.

"We should have more than 100 million passengers going through Soekarno-Hatta this year. In January, the airport had more than 15 million passengers, 14 percent to 15 percent more than last year," Awaluddin said during a ministerial coordination meeting at Hotel Borobudur in Central Jakarta on March 30.

Awaluddin said Soekarno-Hatta Airport has two runways which can accommodate 72 flights per hour. Angkasa Pura wants to increase that rate to 80 flights per hour by October and to 86 flights per hour by January 2018.

Not the finished article: Terminal 3

All of Garuda Indonesia's flights are set to use Terminal 3 starting from May 1.

"We've told Garuda to start organizing their move to Terminal 3. Everything has to be ready by May 1," Minister of Transportation Budi Karya said.

Budi said Garuda Indonesia has to set up all the infrastructure at its new terminal before moving. The ministry can only issue an operating permit once the terminal is ready.

"They have their work cut out for them; they're yet to do all the operational simulations, from check-in to boarding to luggage-handling," Budi said.

According to the Ministry of Transportation, infrastructure for international flights at Terminal 3 is now 90 percent complete. Budi said Garuda Indonesia will operate 26 international flights from the terminal.

The new terminal was opened in August last year, but has been beset with problems from the start, including a collapsed roof and a flash flood at its arrival gate.

Garuda Indonesia operational director Novianto Herupratomo and Ida Fiqriyah,

the flag-carrier's first female captain, on Wednesday (05/04). (Photo courtesy

of Garuda Indonesia)

Related Article:

Garuda Indonesia Appoints First Female Captain

Garuda Indonesia Appoints First Female Captain

Jakarta Globe, Sarah Yuniarni, April 06, 2017

Garuda Indonesia operational director Novianto Herupratomo and Ida Fiqriyah,
the flag-carrier's first female captain, on Wednesday (05/04). (Photo courtesy
of Garuda Indonesia).

Jakarta. Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has appointed its first ever female captain, the first major Indonesian airline to do so.

Ida Fiqriyah was officially appointed as a captain on Wednesday (o5/04). She regularly flies the narrow-body Boeing B737-800 NG and single-aisle aircraft for Garuda. She has clocked in 10,585 flight hours in more than 18 years with the flag-carrier, beginning her career in 1999 as a co-pilot.

A 1996 graduate of the Indonesian State Aviation School in Tangerang, Banten, Ida has been flying all types of aircraft for Garuda Indonesia, including Boeing B737-300, B737-400 and B737-500 and the wide-body Airbus A330-300 and A330-200.

"We are an equal-opportunity employer. We always reward good performances," Garuda Indonesia operational director Novianto Herupratomo said in a statement on Wednesday.

Novianto said to become a captain is no easy task; pilots have to go through a lot of hardships and face many challenging situations before they can even be considered as a captain at Garuda Indonesia.

He also said Ida's appointment as captain should inspire other Indonesian women to pursue a career in aviation.

Garuda Indonesia currently employs 30 female pilots out of a total of 1,380 pilots at the company.

Travel firms to brief holidaymakers on their trip’s environmental footprint

DutchNews, April 12, 2016

A Fokker 70 takes off from Schiphol
airport. Photo jvanderwolf via
Depositphotos

Dutch travel firms are to start informing holidaymakers how much environmental damage their trip is doing by listing ‘holiday footprints’ in brochures and on websites, travel sector organisation ANVR says in Tuesday’s Volkskrant. 

‘We aim to eventually allow consumers to calculate their own holiday footprint via an app or website,’ ANVR spokesman Gerben Hardeman told the paper. ‘We are still a long way off that. But we are now working with a group of travel firms to determine how we can best inform consumers about what we know already.’ 

By helping consumers to realise the impact of their holiday on the environment, holidaymakers can ‘make a responsible choice’, he said. 

Currently, airline passengers can pay extra to offset the cost to the climate of their journey. The amounts vary from €10 to €100, depending on the way the potential damage is calculated by different airlines. 

The system used by the ANVR has been developed by researchers at several hbo colleges and 10 travel firms. It is based on confidential information from airline manufacturers, airlines themselves and the hotel website Booking.com.

Three Chinese passengers grounded for bad behaviour

Yahoo – AFP, April 11, 2016

Chinese authorities last year declared 11 types of action 'strictly prohibited' on
 flights and at terminals, including damaging airport security facilities and
assaulting crew members (AFP Photo/Greg Baker)

China has banned three passengers from major airlines for "uncivilised behaviour", state media reported on Monday, as the country seeks to instil manners in its increasingly well-travelled populace.

The three were blacklisted for hitting a checkpoint security officer with a can of milk, attacking airline personnel over a flight delay, and refusing to switch off a tablet PC during a landing, the China Daily newspaper said.

They are the first to be included in a system rolled out by the China Air Transport Association in February, and will be unable to book flights with five of China's biggest airlines for up to two years, it added.

Chinese authorities last year declared 11 types of action "strictly prohibited" on flights and at terminals, including damaging airport security facilities and assaulting crew members, according to the China Daily.

Such behaviour has frequently made headlines in the country with the world's worst track record for flight delays.

In January last year, 25 passengers were held by police for questioning after they fought with crew members over a bad weather delay and opened the emergency exits.

In 2013, an official who missed two flights lost his temper at the boarding counter and went on a rampage, violently destroying two computers and attempting to smash a window with a signboard.

In December 2014, a Chinese woman en route back to China from Thailand threw a cup of noodles full of boiling water at a Thai flight attendant and punched the cabin windows, threatening to jump out, in a dispute that began over seat arrangements.

An editorial in the China Daily on Monday said such blacklisting was "long overdue", and that the first punishments would warn other travellers to "toe the line".

"There is no reason for them to be respected when they do not show enough respect for others," it said.

Related Articles:

Crackdown on bad behavior by Chinese air passengers

China to 'blacklist' its unruly tourists: report

China desperate to improve image of its overseas tourists

Emirates Officially Opens Dubai-Bali Route

Jakarta Globe, Arientha Primanita, Jun 04, 2015

Inaugural flight of Emirates serving Dubai to Bali route arrived in Ngurah Rai
airport in Bali on Wednesday, June 3, 2015. Emirates adds Bali as its 146th
 global destination opening up opportunities to help boost the Island's tourism
sector. (Photo Courtesy of Emirates)

Jakarta. Dubai-based airline Emirates officially launched a daily flight from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to Indonesia’s most prominent tourism destination, Bali, with an inaugural flight on Wednesday, the airline said in a statement on Thursday.

The flight marked the commencement of Emirates’ non-stop daily flight to Bali, its second destination in Indonesia after Jakarta, the airline said.

The EK 398 flight arrived in Bali at 9:40 p.m local time carrying Emirates’ top officials, journalists and passengers from 40 different cities from around the world, including Moscow, Frankfurt, Amsterdam and New York.

Emirates will use Boeing 777-300ER airplanes for the fleet serving the Dubai-Bali route.

Barry Brown, divisional senior vice president of commercial operations East at Emirates, said Bali is a main tourism destination and an important market for Emirates as there was high interest in the island.

“We are pleased to now be able to serve this demand and contribute to the island’s economic and tourism growth.

“We also look forward to connecting passengers from Bali to Dubali and onward to more than 80 destinations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and the Americas through one convenient stop at our world-class hub,” Brown said in the statement.

I Gde Pitana, resources development head at the Ministry of Tourism, welcomed the new route saying it would boost tourism in Bali — which recorded 3.7 million foreign visitors last year.

“The island continues to attract tourists from around the world, and a direct route to and from Dubai with Emirates will help to increase access to other parts of the world, bringing new opportunities for travellers and businesses alike,” he said.

Bali is Emirate’s 146th global destination, adding to the airline’s routes in the Asia Pacific region which currently serves 18 destinations in 11 countries in Asia.

The airline also provides Emirates SkyCargo service which offers 294 tons of cargo per week from Dubai to Bali and vice versa.

The cargo that could be carried from Bali included marine products such as tuna, household goods, leather goods and handicrafts which mainly will be delivered to European countries. Moreover, the airline said there are also household goods, pharmaceuticals and automotive parts will also be imported not only to Bali but to other cities in Indonesia like Surabaya and Balikpapan.

Emirates first included Jakarta in their international route in 1992 through Singapore and Colombo. By March 2013, the airline began operating a daily three non-stop flights a week from Jakarta to Dubai.

GlobeAsia

Bandung Airport to Close for Asian-African Conference

Jakarta Globe, Apr 10, 2015

Bandung airport will be closed temporarily to accomodate delegates visiting
the Asian Africa conference next week. (Antara Photo/Widodo S. Jusuf)

Bandung. Husein Sastranegara International Airport in Bandung, West Java, will be closed for more than 24 hours later this month to accommodate the Asian-African Conference.

Yayan Hendrayani, Bandung area general manager of state-owned airport operator Angkasa Pura II, said the airport would be off limits for commercial flights from 4 p.m. on April 23 until 9 p.m. the following day.

Yayan said he had informed the Ministry of Transportation and airlines flying to Husein Sastranegara Airport.

“We have asked the airlines not to sell any tickets during that period, if there’s any passenger who has bought the ticket beforehand it will be altered,” he told Detik.com.

The Asian-African Conference will be held from April 19 to 24 in Jakarta and Bandung. Delegates from 109 Asian and African countries, as well as 16 observer countries and 25 international organizations have been invited to the event.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the first Asian-African Conference, which set out to promote economic and cultural cooperation among the newly independent countries of the two continents.

New Taipei mayor praises Singapore as a tourist destination

Want China Times, CNA 2015-03-07

Eric Chu promotes tourism in New Taipei City during his visit to
Singapore, Mar. 3. (Photo/CNA)

Singapore is a great country despite its size, and Taiwan has much to learn from the city state in terms of tourism, said New Taipei mayor Eric Chu upon his arrival there Friday to promote tourism in his city.

Singapore is one of the best tourist attractions in the world, including its success in drawing high-end shoppers and international business travelers, said Chu, who also chairs the ruling Kuomintang.

Two-way travel has increased in recent years, with about 400,000 Singaporeans traveling to Taiwan last year, up from 194,000 in 2009.

The number of Taiwanese tourists to the city-state has risen to nearly 300,000 annually over the past two years from 137,000 in 2009, Chu added.

To draw travelers to New Taipei, a competition kicked off in Singapore on Friday to select a tourism promoter.

The winner will be rewarded a cash prize of 5,000 Singaporean dollars (US$3,670) and be treated to a two-week stay in New Taipei, during which the winner is required to post messages and photos on his or her trip on social media sites.

The mayor is also scheduled to attend the NATAS Travel fair, which began Friday and will run through Sunday.

Chu was accompanied by Chang Kuo-wei, chairman of Taiwanese airline EVA Air, which will increase flights to the city state to accommodate the growing two-way travel.

The airline said it will increase the number of flights to Singapore to 10 per week from the current seven, starting June 21, and to 11 starting July 1.

The carrier will transport passengers in its popular Hello Kitty planes on three of the flights, according to the airline.

Garuda Says Its Planes Will Not Transfer Bali Nine Duo to Place of Execution

Jakarta Globe, Feb 13, 2015

Garuda Indonesia released a statement on Feb. 13 denying it would be
involved in transferrig Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran. (ID Photo)

Jakarta. State-owned flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has released a statement saying it will not be involved in transporting two Australian drug convicts from Bali to a maximum security prison in Central Java where the pair are expected to be executed.

“With reference to the news on Friday 13, February, 2015 regarding the planned transfer of Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, Garuda Indonesia would like to state that the airline will not be involved with this matter and will not be transferring Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran on our aircraft,” Garuda said in a statement released on Friday.

“We also would like to convey that Garuda Indonesia has never made any commitment to transfer the convicts with our planes,” the statement said.

Media reports in Indonesia indicated that Garuda had agreed to a role in transferring Chan and Sukumaran, two members of the so-called Bali Nine who are due to face the firing squad in the near future after President Joko Widodo rejected their appeals for clemency.

Chan and Sukumaran who are currently being detained in Kerobokan penitentiary in Denpasar reportedly will be transfered to Nusakambangan, a strong indicator that their execution may be approaching.

Sukumaran, 33 and Chan, 31, were arrested when attempting to smuggle eight kilograms of heroin from Bali to Australia in 2005.

Related Article:

Australians Could Boycott Indonesia Over Executions: Foreign Minister

Garuda to Expand Papua Routes in April

Jakarta Globe, Feb 01, 2015

Garuda Indonesia plans to add three more routes to the two that it
currently operates out of Biak district in Papua. (ID Photo)

Jakarta. Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia plans to extend its network of routes in Papua, the country’s easternmost province, as part of a push to open up the region to greater development.

The airline has agreed to a request from its office in Biak district to fly three new routes as of April from Biak to Nabire, Serui and Wamena, local Garuda manager Wayan Supatrayasa told Kompas.com.

“The facilities at [Biak’s] Frans Kaisepo Airport very much allow for planes operating from Biak to serve passengers from around the Cendrawasih Bay region,” he said.

“I’m optimistic that the new routes will help improve access to isolated areas and improve those areas’ development,” he added.

Garuda currently operates just two routes from Biak: one to Jayapura, the Papua provincial capital, and another to Jakarta via Makassar in South Sulawesi.

Susi Air operates routes from Biak to other points around the region, including Serui and Manokwari.

Related Article:

Jokowi: Papua Railway Development to Start in 2015

Record number of tourists worldwide

The number of international tourists rose by 4.7 percent to reach a record of 1.14 billion last year, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) said in Madrid.

Deutsche Welle, 28 Jan 2015

Tourism is growing faster than other economic sectors. The industry's increase has been above the average economic growth for five years in a row. A further growth of up to 4 percent is expected this year.

"Over the past years, tourism has proven to be a surprisingly strong and resilient economic activity," said Taled Rifai, the World Tourism Organization's secretary general. "It is a fundamental contributor to the economic recovery by generating billions of dollars in exports and creating millions of jobs."

According to the UNWTO, the number of international tourists particularly increased in North and South America, rising by 7 percent. Asia and the Pacific registered a growth of 5 percent. Receiving 588 million tourists in 2014, Europe consolidated its position as the most visited region in the world.

Germany had a beyond average performance as a holiday destination.

"Inbound tourism continues to develop so dynamically that, according to the available numbers, we have reached for the fifth year in a row a new record in 2014," said Petra Hedorfer of the German tourism marketing organization Deutsche Zentrale für Tourismus. "Growth in Germany's inbound tourism is stronger than the average calculated by the UNWTO for Europe, which is 3.9 percent."

UNWTO statistics included all tourists who spend at least one night in a foreign country.

at / ak (dpa, DZT)

Putin 'will help recover bodies, black boxes': Dutch PM

Yahoo – AFP, 20 July 2014

Dutch Prime minister Mark Rutte gives a press conference in The Hague, on
July 20, 2014, about the situation of the crashed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17
in eastern Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday promised Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte he will help retrieve bodies and black boxes from the Ukrainian rebel-held crash site of flight MH17.

Putin, who is believed to exert influence on the pro-Russia rebels, made the promise in his third conversation with Rutte since Thursday's crash, the Dutch government press service RVD said, amid growing international anger over the stranded bodies.

"Besides allowing unrestricted access to the crash site, the conversation focused on practical matters, namely the departure of the train that has many bodies and the handing over of the black boxes," a spokeswoman for the government press service RVD told AFP, asking not to be named.

"On both points Putin promised his full cooperation," the spokesman said.

Most of the 298 people on the Malaysia Airways flight, likely brought down by a pro-Russian rebel missile, were Dutch.

Around 200 bodies taken from the site in eastern Ukraine are being held in refrigerated trains nearby, pending the arrival of international investigators.

Ukrainian rebels have said that they have the black boxes, crucial in the crash investigation.

OSCE inspectors, part of the monitoring mission to Ukraine, document bodybags

 from MH17 in a refrigerated wagon at Torez train station, near the crash site,

on Sunday. Photograph: Robert Ghement/EPA

Members of the security council vote on a resolution concerning access to the crash

site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 during a security council meeting at United

Nations headquarters, Monday, July 21, 2014. The resolution was adopted by a

unanimous vote. Photograph: Seth Wenig/AP

Related Articles:

MH17 bodies expected Wednesday, IDs could take months: Dutch PM - New

Putin and Rutte discuss MH17 site access again - New

UN Security Council demands safe access for MH17 investigators

Malaysian PM wins guarantees regarding bodies, black boxes
MH17: Dutch experts arrive at crash scene as heavy fighting breaks out

'We have one aim, to get our people back,' Dutch prime minister says

Putin 'must take responsibility' for crash site access: Dutch PM

Malaysian Airlines MH17 passenger manifest (Pdf)

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy,Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) -(Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

Florida jury slaps RJ Reynolds with $23.6 bn in damages - New

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

INTERPOL rejects claim attributed to Malaysia that checking INTERPOL's databases may have slowed immigration checks

Interpol, 28 March 2014

LYON, France – Malaysia’s decision not to consult INTERPOL's Stolen and Lost Travel Documents (SLTD) database before allowing travellers to enter the country or board planes cannot be defended by falsely blaming technology or INTERPOL. If there is any responsibility or blame for this failure, it rests solely with Malaysia's Immigration Department.

INTERPOL’s SLTD database takes just seconds to reveal whether a passport is listed, with recent tests providing results in 0.2 seconds.

The fact is that the US consults this database more than 230 million times per year; the UK more than 140 million times; the UAE more than 100 million times and Singapore more than 29 million times. Not one of these countries, or indeed any INTERPOL member country, has ever stated that the response time is too slow.

The truth is that in 2014 prior to the tragic disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370, Malaysia’s Immigration Department did not conduct a single check of passengers’ passports against INTERPOL’s databases.

Consequently, two individuals possessing stolen Austrian and Italian passports were able to board MH 370. Had Malaysia consulted INTERPOL's SLTD database, the fact that both passengers were using stolen passports would have been discovered almost instantaneously.

Malaysia’s Immigration Department owes it to all passengers boarding flights originating in, or passing through, Malaysia to make sure that passports registered as stolen or lost in INTERPOL’s databases cannot be used to board any flight.

In this regard, despite this unjustified attack on INTERPOL, we remain ready, willing and able to help Malaysia better safeguard its citizens and visitors from those seeking to use stolen or fraudulently altered passports to board planes.

INTERPOL has no idea why Malaysia’s Home Minister chooses to attack INTERPOL instead of learning from this tragedy.

After years of witnessing countries fail to consult INTERPOL’s SLTD database prior to allowing travellers to cross borders and board planes, INTERPOL created I-Checkit which will allow airlines and cruise lines to ensure that no passenger can use a stolen or lost passport registered in INTERPOL’s database to board one of their planes or ships.

Related Articles:

Thai police target 'passport ring' in vanished flight probe

Missing jet reveals uncomfortable Malaysian truths

Missing MH370 likely to have disintegrated mid-flight: experts

Archangel Michael: Spring Means the Time of Rebirth and Awakening – The Golden Age of Gaia, Steve Beckow, March 22, 2014 - New

....SB: That’s very good, Lord. Thank you. I’m going to move quickly to Flight 370, and then hopefully a short talk on global citizenry.

Ashira said that Flight 370 had exploded, but he didn’t say what the cause of the explosion was. Others have said that a secret naval weapon was used to cause it to disintegrate. And recently a prominent channel said the plane was suffering from hydraulic failure, was in an uncontrolled state, at risk of imminent destruction; whisked out of the air in mid-flight, was taken aboard an enormous spaceship from Sirius claimed to be part of the Federation fleet under the Ashtar Command whose full report is available from a certain website.

Now, Ashira said they took a few people up who still wanted to remain in form, but the rest — they passed on. What is the truth, Lord?

AAM: This is not an action — let us put it this way — this is not an action that your star brothers and sisters have been deeply involved in. This is an action of what we would refer to, or Gabrielle would refer to, as of violence, of sabotage, of subterfuge. And it has continued.

So there are lies upon lies upon lies. And what is occurring … this is a terrible situation. And it is painful to so many. But what it is also doing for humanity, it is bringing up what we would call shared compassion and grief. Because if you were to look at the grief and the confusion and the compassion component of what is being felt and emanating from the hearts of the collective, individuals all over the planet, it is out of alignment with the situation even including those who have been on the plane and who have suffered and the families that are left suffering the loss of their loved ones.

So it has amplified and shown the global community, in a time when there has been much strife and conflict on the ground, the other side of the scale, where you are seeing the global community coming together in compassion and sending healing for many. It is also bringing together the global community in saying, “We require, we demand truth.” Because there have been such significant untruths, every step of the way. And now what is occurring, among what you think are responsible agencies of many countries, is that they are looking for scapegoats. They are looking for situations to hang this on.

The truth will come out, but the function of this act of violence has been hijacked in many ways not by your star brothers and sisters but by the Company of Heaven to teach several very important, critical, timely lessons. The ship has not been taken on board a mothership elsewhere. That is false hope.

SB: Where is the ship, Lord? Is it blown to smithereens, or is it at the bottom of the ocean?

AAM: For all intents and purposes, it is not intact. We cannot give you the totality because that would be breaking our agreement.

SB: And then of course you couldn’t tell us what nation did it, either?

AAM: It is not so much a nation as individuals acting independently.

SB: All right. I’m not sure whether I should go further in trying to get more details, or…. whether….

AAM: Please do not.....

Indonesia's Batik Air to launch international service

Google – AFP, 27 February 2014

Two air hostesses stand next to a Boeing 737-900 plane of the new Indonesian

 airline Batik Air in Tangerang on the outskirts of Jakarta on April 25, 2013 (AFP,

Adek Berry)

Singapore — An airline owned by Indonesia's Lion Group announced Thursday it will launch international services with a flight from Jakarta to Singapore later this year.

Batik Air, which is part of the Lion Group that also owns Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air, will start the flights by November or December, said its chief executive Achmad Luthfie.

The airline, which operates as a full-service carrier with meals and drinks and offers business and economy class seating, began operations in May last year servicing domestic destinations in Indonesia.

"Our first international destination will be Singapore and we aim to have more than a daily service on the route," Luthfie said in a statement.

"We chose Singapore as our first international destination because we can see that demand continues to increase," he added.

Speaking at a news conference in Singapore, Luthfie said Batik Air plans to fly next from the Indonesian capital to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.

Luthfie said that eventually it is looking to fly to Southern China and Western Australia.

On the domestic front, the airline plans to more than double its network to 22 destinations including Palembang, Solo and Batam.

Luthfie said the carrier is currently filling 90 percent of seats.

Batik Air operates six Boeing 737-900ER aircrafts and is based in Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport.

Six Airbus A320 aircraft and four Boeing 737-800 planes will be delivered by the end of this year, the airline said.

Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of over 17,000 islands cutting across three time zones, relies heavily on air transport and is experiencing a sharp growth in its aviation sector, thanks to a rapidly rising middle class.

Garuda Indonesia Awarded the Best Airline in Asia and Australasia

Jakarta Globe, ID/Inneke lady & ID/Tri Murti, September 12, 2013

Garuda Indonesia staff hold a welcoming ceremony outside the airline’s
Boeing Boeing 777-300ER. (Majalah Investor Photo/Uthan A Rachim)

National carrier Garuda Indonesia has been elected best airline in Asia and Australasia, beating established regional heavyweights Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines in the 2013 Passenger Choice Awards.

“Thanks to the strong commitment of management and employees in giving the best service, Garuda’s performance is being gradually acknowledged at an international level,” Garuda Indonesia’s president director Emirsyah Satar said in a statement on Wednesday. “This encourages Garuda to continue the Quantum Leap 2011-2015 program, in which the Garuda Group will be a five-star airline and operate 194 aircraft by 2015.”

The carrier currently operates a fleet of 124 planes.

The New York–based Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX) ran the Anaheim, California event.

Garuda came out on top of five other finalists: Singapore Airlines, Qantas Airways, Cathay Pacific, Air New Zealand and Pakistan Airlines.

Passengerchoiceawards.com ran the online survey, and the Nielsen Company, a leading global survey institution, tabulated it.

Garuda was also chosen in the Top 5 Best Overall Passenger Experience category, together with Emirates, Etihad Airways, Virgin America and Virgin Atlantic; in the Top 5 Best Ground Experience category, along with Avianca, Delta Airlines, El Al Israel Airlines and Virgin America, Avianca and El Al Israel Airlines; and in the Top 5 Best Inflight Publication category, along with Avianca, Ethiopian Airlines, Gulf Air, and Taca International Airlines.

This latest accolade followed Garuda’s inclusion in the World’s Top 10 Airlines by Skytrax.

Garuda booked $1.73 billion in operational revenue in the first semester of 2013, up 14.1 percent from to the same period last year.

The increase was near-commensurate with the rise in the number of passengers Garuda Indonesia and its low-cost offshoot Citilink could accommodate. They issued a combined 11.9 million tickets in H1, 2013, a 23.96 percent increase from the first semester of 2012. Cargo transport also increased from 132.06 tons in the first half of 2012 to 172.26 tons this year.

Gerry Soejatman, an aviation analyst, said the award and recognitions indicated the airline’s progress, but that it still had much to do in order to realize its ambitions.

“This means the airline must keep developing to maintain its position,” he said, adding that Garuda needed to offer more flights to Europe.

Lion Air Passenger Plane Crashes in Bali

Jakarta Globe, Made Arya Kencana, April 13, 2013

The Lion Air airplane that crashed into the ocean 50 meters from the
runway at Ngurah Rai Airport, Denpasar. (Twitter Photo)

  

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A Lion Air airplane carrying 101 passengers was forced to make an emergency landing on the ocean after it overshot the runway at Ngurah Rai Airport on Saturday afternoon.

Sherly Yunita, a public relations officer at Ngurah Rai Airport, told the Jakarta Globe that the passenger plane did not touch the runway and landed directly onto the sea.

“The cause is not known yet,” Sherly said. “It was an emergency landing.”

Dozens of passengers have been sent to hospitals in Denpasar with 10 passengers hospitalized at the Sanglah Hospital in Denpasar and two at the Kasih Ibu Hospital.

Victims with serious injuries have been taken to the Siloam Hospital in Kuta.

A passenger, identified as Dewi, complained that the pilot did not alert the passengers before the emergency landing.

“Suddenly I saw the airplane was so close with the sea and hit the water with a loud sound,” Dewi said. “All passengers were panicking, screaming. Passengers tried to get the life jackets and were rushed to the emergency exits.”

Dewi, who suffered an injury to her head, managed to swim to the beach after getting out of the plane.

The Lion Air Boeing 737-800 ER jet was traveling from Bandung to Denpasar when it was forced to make an emergency landing, Eko Diantoro, the general manager from airport operator Angkasa Pura II, told TVOne on Saturday.

Eko said there were 101 passengers — 96 adults, five children and one baby — and seven crew members on board the flight that left Husein Sastranegara International Airport, Bandung at 12:56 p.m. The flight was due to land at 3:40 p.m. local time. The flight crashed into the water at 3:35 p.m, 50 meters from the runway.

Eko said that weather conditions in Denpasar were good.

“We don’t know the cause of the accident,” Eko said. “We don’t have the detail of the passengers condition, but all are alive.”

In October 2011, a Lion Air flight overshot the runway at the Sepinggan airport in Balikpapan, East Kalimantan. There were no casualties as the passenger plane managed to stop on a soft surface in place to trap an aircraft from running on from the landing area, or even into the sea, in the case of an emergency.

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