PT Garuda Indonesia's General Manager of Timika office Agung Anugerah said on Wednesday that Garuda Indonesia's passengers began to decrease since early Feb after Freeport had halted exporting and producing concentrates.
"We admit that it is a dull season, but the decline in the number of passengers is not inseparable from the problems taking place with PT Freeport. So far, passengers' flight tickets for Garuda Indonesia were ordered by the company where they were working," Anugerah stated.
However, the Garuda manager did not disclose the percentage of decline in the number of passengers from Timika to various destinations or from various regions to Timika.
"We remain to provide services as usual. There are no changes yet in flight schedules from and to Timika," he noted.
Garuda Indonesia is operating Boeing 737-800 for the Jakarta-Denpasar-Timika-Jayapura route (vice versa) every day and the Jakarta-Makassar-Timika-Jayapura (vice versa) route daily.
The state-owned airlines also serves the Timika-Sorong-Manado (vv) and the Biak-Nabire-Timika (vv) three times a week.
It was earlier reported that PT Freeport Indonesia had stopped its production activities with effect from Feb 10, 2017, following the government's objective to have greater control on raw mineral resources.
The government has proposed that the Special Mining Operations Permit (IUPK) should be used in place of the existing Contract of Work (CoW).
PT Freeport Indonesia is reluctant to agree to the Indonesian governments proposal, especially since IUPK holders are obliged to divest up to 51 percent of the shares, which means they will no longer be in full control of the company.
Furthermore, Freeport is planning to sue the government in the International Court of Arbitration.
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Ignasius Jonan had remarked on Feb 18 that PT Freeport Indonesia's plan to bring up the dispute in the International Court of Arbitration is legitimate, adding that the arbitration measure is far better than raising issues on dismissal of employees as a tool to apply pressure on the government.
"Global corporations always treat their employees as valuable assets rather than as mere tools to gain profits," Jonan remarked.
Editor: Ade P Marboen
Copyright © ANTARA 2017
