State-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines said that it would make available one more MA-60 plane for its fleet in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, shortly after the government said it would launch an inspection of the company’s MA-60 fleet following a deadly accident in West Papua involving the same type of aircraft.
Kupang branch Manager Djibrael de Hoog said Sunday that the plane, scheduled to arrive in Kupang on Wednesday, would replace the previous one that was sent to West Papua that crashed, killing all of passengers and crew members.
“The plane that fell in Kaimana [West Papua] previously operated in East Nusa Tenggara,” Djibrael said, as quoted by Tempointeraktif.com.
The MA-60 would serve the Kupang-Surabaya-Denpasar-Tambolaka and Waingapu route
Merpati is planning to bring two more MA-60 units from China. “With the addition [of two more planes] the number of MA-60 planes will be 15 units,” Djibrael said, adding that despite the crash, Merpati’s MA-60 fleet load factor for Kupang operations would remain stable.
The current load factor is 77 percent out of 56 seats, unchanged since the two MA-60s began operating in the East Nusa Tenggara region in October 2010.
“There have been no protests from people who often use Merpati to fly. Ticket requests have remained the same,” Djibrael said.
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