GARUDA Indonesia has been forced to postpone the launch of its Jakarta-London service as the runways and apron at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have been deemed unsuitable for heavy-duty aircraft.
The airline had initially planned to commence London flights on November 2 (TTG Asia e-Daily, February 5, 2013) via a Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, but will now launch the five-times-weekly service in May 2014 instead.
According to a Garuda Indonesia press release, runways and aprons must have a pavement classification number (PCN), an indicator of strength, of at least 132 for the B777-300ER to operate.
Soekarno-Hatta’s 28-year-old runway is nearing “fatigue” with a PCN of 120.
For Garuda to continue with its flight to London under such conditions take-off weight would have to be cut through a reduction in passenger numbers and removal of cargo, and the airline would not be able to fly directly to London.
Said the statement: “Consequently, the implementation of this flight with these conditions in this competitive world of air travel would have a serious effect on the operational and business requirements of this route.”
