"Starting December, we would make maiden flights from Bali`s Ngurah Rai International airport to the Komodo, Labuan Bajo and Ende airports," a Vice President of the country`s flag carrier Ari Suryanta said in Labuan Bajo on Wednesday.
The state airline would serve regular flights everyday between Ngurah Rai and the three airports, Ari, a vice president for domestic flights, said.
He said the routes are potential for tourist flights and growing number of people are traveling between East Nusatenggara and other regions especially Bali and Java.
Tourist destinations in the regency of Manggarai Barat such as the Komodo National Park and Batu Cermin began to attract many tourists, he said.
"Garuda would provide higher quality services than provided by other airlines which already serve the routes ," he said.
He said Garuda will use its ATR-70/600 to serve the routes.
The flights by Garuda to start on December 3, are expected to draw more tourists to NTT especially to the regency of Manggarai Barat, he said.
Deputy Regent of Manggarai Barat Maximus Gasa said the district administration welcomes the plan of Garuda to serve regular flights to that district as it would give the local people more alternatives in using means of transport.
"The plan is expected to contribute to faster development of the economy of the district," Maximus said.
There have been other airlines serving flights between Manggarai Barat and Bali but more often departures and arrivals are not as given in the flight scheduled, he said.
"The airlines could not guarantee a fixed hour of departure. The passengers often have to wait for hours or cancel flights," he added.
He said Garuda is expected to change the condition and give the passengers greater flight convenience.
(H-ASG/O001)
Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
