A Batavia Air employee in Palu Rofiq Ichkwan on Saturday said that after the plane flew for 20 minutes from Mutiara airport to Jakarta at 7 am local time the plane had to return to Mutiara airport because of engine trouble.
"But all the passengers were still flown by another Batavia Air plane at 4.30 pm, and the one with an engine trouble was still parked at the airport." he said.
He did not know when the plane would be back in operation because it still has to be repaired by a Batavia Air technician.
Rofiq did not give the details of the trouble, and only said that the management of the airline company prioritized the safety of passengers.
The flow of passengers through Mutiara airport has been increasing each year.
In the last three years more than a thousand passengers left Mutiara airport for some other destinations in the country, while in the previous years the number of passengers reached only some 600.
The other airline companies flying from and to Palu were, Lion Air, Merpati, Sriwijaya Air and Garuda Indonesia.(*)
Editor: Ruslan Burhani
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
