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View all search resultsTrigana resumes Jayapura-Oksibil flight service
Private airline Trigana Air has resumed regular service of its Jayapura-Oksibil route after the crash that occurred on Aug
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P
rivate airline Trigana Air has resumed regular service of its Jayapura-Oksibil route after the crash that occurred on Aug.16 of a Trigana plane in Pegunungan Bintang regency, Papua, which killed all 54 people on board.
'We have resumed operations. Previously, the Jayapura-Oksibil flight route was served by two aircraft but following the incident, only one aircraft is now available for the route,' the head of operational division of PT Trigana Air for Jayapura, Budiawan, said on Sunday.
'Although we have recommenced the Jayapura-Oksibil service, we will prioritize cargo shipping as people in Oksibil have begun to run out of commodity supplies following the incident,' he added.
Budiawan said the airline had not raised the ticket price of its Jayapura-Oksibil flight route, which costs around Rp 1.5 million (US$108) per trip, despite having only one aircraft left for the route.
Trigana Air is the only airline company that serves the Jayapura-Oksibil route.
Denny Yigibalom, a Twin Otter pilot of PT Trigana Air, discussed the tough challenges faced by every pilot who served on the Jayapura-Oksibil route.
Unlike small airports in other areas of Indonesia, most of which were equipped with weather radars, few airports in remote areas of Papua had such a facility, he said.
'Each time we fly an aircraft to a remote area of Papua, we depend fully on information provided by air traffic control [ATC] officers at ATC towers because this is the only facility we have. The ATC officers also give us information on weather conditions based on their visual assessments,' said Denny.
He said such factors had been the biggest challenge for pilots because weather in Papua had the potential to change very quickly. 'It often happens that we land in sunny weather but within only a short period of time, just as we are prepared to take off again, the weather suddenly takes a turn for the worse,' said Denny.
'Pilots frequently have to return to airports because of bad weather,' he went on.
Denny hoped the government, in this regard the Transportation Ministry, would improve key aviation facilities at every airport in Papua to minimize weather-related accidents. (ebf)
