Direct Flight from Jayapura (DJJ) to Port Moresby (POM)

Visitors from Jayapura City (Indonesia) can reach Port Moresby Papua New Guinea by travelling by car with route Jayapura – Wutung by Indonesian Taxi, then cross border RI-PNG, and continue using PNG taxi from Wutung to Vanimo. There are daily regular flights from Vanimo Airport (VAI) to Port Moresby (POM) by Air Niugini (PX). If you want to reach Port Moresby from Jayapura by airplane, the route is very far: Jayapura (DJJ) – Denpasar (DPS) - Port Moresby (POM) or Jayapura (DJJ) – Jakarta (CGK) – Singapore (SIN) - Port Moresby (POM).

In 27 June, 1 & 5 July 2014, Garuda Indonesia served direct flight from Sentani Airport (DJJ) to Jacksons International Airport Port Moresby (POM) with flight number GA-6560 (DJJ-POM) and GA-6570 (POM-DJJ) with aircraft type Boeing 737-800NG aircraft registration PK-GNH, PK-GFI, and PK-GMQ. The flight duration took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. This is good news! But, is it a regular flight? Unfortunately no, because this is special chartered flight of Indonesian delegation to attend The 5th Melanesian Festival of Arts and Culture, Papua New Guinea, held on 28th June - 11th July 2014.

If you want to take chartered flight of Garuda Indonesia, just go to nearest branch and tell the flight what you need. The cost is about USD 7500 to USD 9000 per hour. With more than 150 delegates from Papua Province attend the MFAC 2014, chartered flight considered as cheapest way to reach Papua New Guinea, because it cut cost more than 70% of the budget than take regular flight. Why not using another cheaper airline? It’s because Garuda Indonesia is flag carrier of Republic Indonesia.

And of course, don’t forget to take photo of the crew!

For your information, The Melanesian Island countries in the Western Pacific, surrounded by the vast blue Pacific Ocean have Cultural Heritage which is diverse. The Melanesian people's cultural heritage is distinct. It distinguishes them from other people and their cultures. Their Cultural heritage is their identity, strength and can shape their destiny. It is celebrated to enhance mutual understanding, cooperation and appreciation of one another's Arts and Culture in Melanesia.

How to Book Indonesian Railway Ticket from Jakarta to Yogyakarta

If you want to go to Yogyakarta by train, you can book ticket online via web from Kereta Api website or from their online booking partner (tiket.com, tiketkai.com, paditrain.com). They also have mobile application that available for Android and Blackberry. For online reservation, please make sure that it at least 10 hours from scheduled departing time.

After payment done, you will get booking code that can printed in the station using self service terminal in the station. I’m writing this post on morning Taksaka train from Gambir Train Station Jakarta departing to Tugu Station Yogyakarta depart from Jakarta at 08.00 GMT+7 and will arrive to Jogja at 16.05 GMT+7.



After enter your booking details to the self service terminal, print and take the ticket from the printer and prepare your ID card and show it at departure gate.



This is the departure gate. The officer will check your ticket and ID card before you able to enter the train platform.



Oh, this is just a tips, before enter departure gate, don’t forget to get a cup of coffee at Starbucks to energize you on the journey.



Enter the platform 30 minutes before departure, the Taksaka train ready to go.



Your seat number written on the ticket, with 4 seat ABCD configuration. A and D for window seat and BC for aisle.



Enjoy your trip, and don’t worry because there are 220 V power cord in each seat so you can work on the way to Jogja without afraid of running out of battery. Make sure you have the charger and Indonesian standard power plug.



If you need to eat or drink, just order from the restaurant in the train. Have a nice trip!

Air Traffic Jam in Jakarta Indonesia

Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Jakarta (Tangerang, Banten) is busiest airport in Indonesia with more (or almost?) than 1000 take-off landing everyday. I just got picture posted by my friend Michael Sambur in his Facebook account when (maybe) he ready to take-off to somewhere.


Air traffic jam not only happen in Indonesia. Changi Airport SIngapore as one of busiest hub in South East Asia also got air traffic jam. I ever fly from Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to Singapore (SIN) with Jetstar and when approaching SIngapore, pilot said that we will go around about 10 minutes waiting for landing queue. I was on the flight From Jakarta (CGK) to Yogyakarta (JOG) this year by Garuda Indonesia when we go around for about 30 minutes on the air and pilot said that it was because no parking slot available at the airport, so we wait for another aircraft to take-off. I ever on the taxiway for more than 40 minuter just wait to take-off for 50 minutes flight. That’s not included with traffic jam on the way to Jakarta airport that make me spend more than 3 hours on the road for just 40 km distance.

That was a lot of fuel burn. With fuel consumption is about 50 litres per minute for narrow body aircraft like Boeing 737-800 or Airbus A-320, 10 minutes delay on air will make airline spend more than USD 500 just to burn fuel. This is just for 1 aircraft with mid size. What happen if it’s more than 100 aircraft and with bigger size?

With risk of flight delays and cancellations are at an all-time high, I think the airport authority need to have more runway and more terminal building to serve more aircraft. Or maybe we just need more airport?

Personal Review of Airports in Papua

Papua have many locations that isolated from sea, without land road to reach some areas. The main vehicle to reach some area is using airplane. This is some airport in Papua visited by me.

Dekai Airport (DEK)
Dekai airport also known as Nop Goliath airport is airport located in Yahukimo Regency, Papua. This airport length is about 1200 m with asphalt surface. The biggest aircraft that landed to this airport is Trigana Air with ATR-42 and ATR-72 aircaft. The main problem of this aircraft is, there is no airport fence so anywone can pass runway at operating hours. The airport also doesn't have ATC (Air Traffic Control). The airport also doesn't have fire fighter in case of emergency in the airport. The airport also doesn't have runway light.



Wamena Airport (WMX)
Wamena airport is main hub of central Papua. With runway lenght more than 1825 m, the biggest aircraft that can landed to this airport is Boeing 737-300. This aircraft have ATC to control traffic, and have firefighter in case of emergency. The problem is there is no airport permanent buliding because of fire in 2011. Passengers boarding from temporary waiting room.



For smaller aircraft there are so many airstrips in villages and districts, with lenght about 600-800 m, some of them with grass surface. Of course the airstrips have very minimal safety.

Direct Nonstop Flight from Jakarta (CGK) to Jayapura (DJJ)

There are so many flights from Jakarta to Jayapura. Garuda Indonesia, Merpati Nusantara, Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air, Express Air, and Batavia Air.

There are some route served by the airline and the stops between Jakarta and Jayapura:

• Jakarta (CGK) - Surabaya (SUB) - Makassar/Ujung Pandang (UPG) - Sorong (SOQ) - Manokwari (MKW) - Sentani Jayapura (DJJ)


• Jakarta (CGK) - Makassar/Ujung Pandang (UPG) - Biak (BIK) - Sentani Jayapura (DJJ)


• Jakarta (CGK) - Denpasar (DPS) - Timika (TIM) - Jayapura (DJJ)
• Jakarta (CGK) - Makassar/Ujung Pandang (UPG) - Sentani Jayapura (DJJ)

Personally, I hate take-off and landing, because most airline required us to go to the terminal when the airplane stop even with same aircraft. Garuda Indonesia is one that give passengers option to leave to terminal or stay on the airplane on transit when the next flight is use the same aircraft. But, transit is still annoying me, because I can't sleep well during landing because seat have to be upright.

The good news, Lion Air now serve direct nonstop flight from Jakarta to Jayapura using JT-794 depart from Jakarta (CGK) at 22.30 GMT+7 and arrive at Jayapura (DJJ) at 06.00 GMT+9 (5 hours 30 minutes). My last flight using Lion Air was good. I slept few minutes after take-off and awake near arrival at Sentani Jayapura (DJJ). This is good for people who hate take-off and landing.

White Tiger in Indonesia

White tiger is endangered species in India. I have my chance to take photos of white tiger when visited Taman Safari Indonesia at Cisarua, Bogor.



Taman Safari Indonesia have white tiger babies, and we can take photo with them.



Take photo with 'big cat' is very fun!



I still have question about how to get license to take care of tiger in Indonesia. Some people already did that, and it will be interesting if I can have baby tiger in our backyard.

Garuda Indonesia Business / Executive Class Experience

August 8th, 2012 was the second time when I use Garuda Indonesia Business /Executive Class from Jayapura (DJJ). The main reason is just simple: there are no economy seat available on the flight. I went to Jakarta on the peak season on the "go-show" condition. I waited at Garuda ticketing office until they closed the check in system.

I went to Jakarta at the date and I got price about IDR 9.500.000 for business class from Jayapura (DJJ) to Jakarta (CGK). So I decided to take the business class route from Jayapura (DJJ) to Makassar (UPG) with the price of about IDR 6.500.000. The next problem, at Makassar I tried to get ticket from Makassar to Jakarta but all flights was full, so I went from Makassar (UPG) to Yogyakarta (JOG) with cost about IDR 1.400.000 by Merpati Nusantara Airlines and from Yogyakarta (JOG) to Jakarta (CGK) next morning (9th August) by Batavia Air that cost me about IDR 600.000. My home at Yogyakarta is just about 20 minutes from airport, so I saved cost for hotel.

Back to the Business / Executive class of Garuda Indonesia, the ticket is 3-4 times more expensive than Garuda Indonesia economy seats. What I got was larger space, larger seat and more food / inflight meals at business class. The "bad thing" was almost all passengers in business class were senior citizens.



There are electric plug at the seats of 737-800NG's business class, so for long haul flight we can work using laptop without afraid when facing low battery. From 11 passengers with me at the business class, just me use AVOD (Audio Video On Demand), the other passengers prefer to sleep.



Good experience, but when remember the cost, still too hard for middle class people like me. But again, the cost is "paid" when I realized that all my tasks in Jakarta is well-done on time.

The Boeing 737-800 Winglet of Sriwijaya Air PK-CLA

As the frequent traveler, I use so many airline companies with many type of aircraft. One of my favorite aircraft is Boeing 737-800 with winglet. The Boeing company said that winglet option is for fuel efficiency. I just think that winglet is just for new Boeing aircraft.



I just arrived at 1 August 2012 using Garuda Indonesia PK-GMU when I spotted Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-800 series with registration number PK-CLA. The I search and got the history from planesplotter.net that PK_CLA is used aircraft and it's first flight was at year 1999. After search for the pictures, I noticed that this aircraft not used winglet before.

So, the old aircraft is available to have winglet. Winglets cost about 725,000 USD and take about 1 week to install which costs an extra $25-80,000 USD. Once fitted, they add 170-235kg (375-518lbs) to the weight of the aircraft, depending upon whether they were installed at production or a retrofit (b737.org.uk).

The moral story: Don't judge aircraft age by it's winglet.

Airline Inflight Meals Garuda Indonesia GA-217 and GA-652

Yesterday (31/7/2012) I went from Yogyakarta (JOG) to Jayapura (DJJ) via Jakarta (CGK) - Denpasar (DPS) - Timika (TIM) with Garuda Indonesia. I got Garuda Indonesia promo fare by booking via their web at the morning (01.00 GMT+7) so I decided to book and paid the ticket.

First flight, GA-217 boarded from Yogyakarta on 19.05 GMT+7 and then departed few 20 minutes later using Boeing 737-800 series without AVOD (Audio Video on Demand). But I love this aircraft configuration because we got more spacious comfortable seat compared with AVOD version. On the flight, we got meals with Ramadhan theme.



For flight less than 1 hour, Garuda Indonesia provide hot/cold drink with snacks. I don't to care with the meal since my stomach was full after ate at Blue Sky Lounge Adisutjipto Airport Yogyakarta.



Then we arrived at Jakarta at 20.30 GMT+7 and I went to transit desk and then proceed to Emerald Sky Lounge Cengkareng at Terminal 2F and grab some drink and vegetables. After ate and waited about 1 hour, we boarded at 22.00 GMT+7 using brand new Boeig 737-800NG PK-GMU with Boeing Sky Interior and AVOD.

From Jakarta (CGK) to Denpasar (DPS) with about 2 hours trip, we got dinner I chose tuna... arrgh, i forgot the name! Here is the screenshot.



From Ngurah Rai Airport Denpasar (DPS) to Moses Kilangin Airport Timika (TIM) is around 4 hours trip but I felt sleepy and very full, so I decided not to take the meal. After transit at Timika (TIM) we continue to went to Sentani Airport Jayapura (DJJ). We went around on the air of Jayapura for about 10 minutes because of airport traffic jam and landed safely at 09.00 GMT+9.

Airline Inflight Meal: Merpati Nusantara Airlines

Merpati Nusantara is airline company in Indonesia owned by Government of Republic of Indonesia as second state airline after Garuda Indonesia. What I like from Merpati is full service airline with cheap ticket.

Discover The Other You, Get Free Trip to Thailand in 2012!

If you interested to visit Thailand for free, this is you chance to visit the country. I just visited the website tourismthailand.org and got the information that they offer free trip to Thailand in 2012 for lucky winners.

Just watch video, and enter your personal details in the web form at the website, then you will be eligible to get chance to visit Thailand. I already visited Thailand in 2010, and now is your turn!

Fly Flights From Jakarta to Bandung

If you have plan to visit Bandung from Jakarta, there are many ways to reach Bandung. First you can use car or bus, because distance between Jakarta to Bandung is about 140-180 Km (depends on route) with 3-4 hours trip. If you arrive at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport Cengkareng (CGK) you can order a seat to Bandung by bus using Cipaganti or just rent a car or taxi. You also can use train from Jakarta to Bandung.

How about flights to Bandung? There are many flights to Bandung. Domestic and International flights is from/to Bandung (BDO) is from/to Jakarta (HLP), Yogyakarta (JOG), Surabaya (SUB), Denpasar (DPS), Bandar Lampung (TKG), Singapore (SIN), Kuala Lumpur (KUL).

 

If you want to visit Bandung by airplane from Jakarta, you can order ticket of Merpati Nusantara Airlines with route Halim Perdanakusuma Jakarta (HLP) - Bandung (BDO) using MA-60 Aircraft. The ticket fares is from IDR 87.500 (promo) to IDR 423.000 (economy) and fly about 35 minutes.