W. Sumatra, Mandala evaluate Padang-Singapore flight route

"We hope the management of Mandala Airlines will maintain the flight route."

Padang (ANTARA News) - The West Sumatra provincial government and Mandala Airlines are evaluating the Padang-Singapore flight route the budget carrier has served since four months ago.

"The result of evaluation shows that the load factor for the Padang-Singapore flight is quite good. But this is not the case with the Singapore-Padang flight in which load factor averages 31.70 percent," Head of the West Sumatra Provincial Tourism and Creative Economy Office Burhasman Bur said here on Tuesday.

Mandala opened the route on December 1 last year. It flies from the Minangkabau International Airport in Padang to the Changi International Airport in Singapore and vice versa everyday.

The high load factor for the Padang-Singapore flight is because the low-cost carrier departs from Padang in the morning and returns to the West Sumatra provincial capital in the evening, he said.

He said the provincial government has suggested that Mandala Airlines adjust its departure time for the Padang-Singapore flight to give passengers particularly hotel guests more time.

Mandala departs from the Minangkabau International Airport at 07.55 a.m. western Indonesian time so that the hotel guests must check out of hotels earlier in the morning to get the airport before 06.30 a.m., he said.

It is likely for the airlines to change the departure time to 10.00 a.m. and tourists will not hurry to leave Padang as a result, he said.

"We have proposed a change in departure time to the management of Mandala Airlines and they realize the condition," he said.

"We hope the management of Mandala Airlines will maintain the flight route. If the load factor in the few months ahead remains unchanged they can reduce the frequency of its flights," he said.

Therefore, all parties should make every effort to increase the load factor for the flight route which has large potentials to bring tourists to West Sumatra, he said.

(Reporting by Siri Antoni, editing by Suharto)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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