Garuda Indonesia's Boeing planes too heavy to land at Jakarta
Garuda Indonesia's Boeing planes too heavy to land at Jakarta
GARUDA Indonesia has been forced to postpone its planned new London service because the runway in Jakarta is not strong enough to take its fully laden Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
The airline has been heavily marketing a new non-stop Sydney-Jakarta-London flight, due to launch in November but now delayed until May.
However, the airline's vice-president for Australia and the South-West Pacific, Bagus Y. Siregar, said the B777-300ER would still be put into service on the Sydney-Jakarta route between November 8 and December 18.
"The aircraft will then be deployed to another region until our Jakarta to London service begins in 2014, when the aircraft will fly from Sydney to Jakarta and onto London direct," he said.
The airline said Soekarno-Hatta Airport's runways did not meet the required level of strength "typically needed for the operation of a full capacity, heavy duty commercial airline such as the Boeing 777-300ER".
Garuda Indonesia chief executive Emirsyah Satar said that to operate at full capacity serving direct flights between Jakarta and London carrying 314 passengers and a cargo of 30 tons, the B 777-300ER required a pavement classification number, or PCN, of 132 tons.
He said Soekarno-Hatta's 28-year-old runway had a PCN of only 120 tons.
This would mean the airline would have to reduce the take-off weight of its London flight by carrying 39 fewer passengers and less cargo.
"Additionally, the flight would not be able to fly directly to London," he said.
"In this competitive market, not being able to operate with a full payload would severely disadvantage Garuda Indonesia at this time."
The Australian 1/7/2013
Last edited by jetjockey696; 3rd Aug 2013 at 03:28.