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Wings Air continues flights to Nabire despite ban
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Banned -- A Wings Air plane takes off from an airport recently. The Nabire administration is trying to bar the airline from flying to the region due to poor service. (Kompas.com/File)
W
ings Air, a subsidiary of Indonesia’s largest private carrier, the Lion Group, has continued to provide flights to and from Nabire, Papua, despite a flying ban imposed by Nabire Regent Isaias Douw last week.
“Wings Air will continue to fly from Nabire to Ambon [Maluku], Jayapura [Papua] and Kaimana [West Papua] as scheduled,” Nabire Airport official Omardani Setyonugroho told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
He said the Wings Air office had received a copy of a letter from the Nabire regent who barred the private carrier from flying to the region. However, it had not yet received a letter from the Transportation Ministry’s Air Transportation Directorate General requesting the airline to stop its flight routes to Nabire, he added.
“We are still waiting for information from the Air Transportation Directorate General,” said Omardani. He said he did not know whether or not there had been communication between Air Transportation Director General Suprasetyo and the Nabire regent on the matter.
“What I can confirm is that as of today, there has been no notification [on a flying ban] from the Air Transportation Directorate General, the one and the only entity with authority to impose such a ban,” said Omardani.
“We are committed to serving the people,” said Lion Air manager for Papua flight areas, Agung Setyo Wibowo.
As reported earlier, Isaias issued a letter dated Dec.6 to private airline PT Wings Air Service, which banned it from flying to Nabire due to its poor passenger services. The ban took effect starting on Dec.10 and is valid until further notification.
“A lack of quality flight service from airline company PT Wings Air in Nabire led to disgruntled passengers,” the letter stated. (ebf)
