Madura airport to serve as home base for Susi Air

JAKARTA. Light aircraft operator Susi Air will, in the near future, make Trunojoyo Airport in Sumenep regency on Madura Island in East Java one of its home bases, Sumenep Transportation Office spokesman Moh Fadillah said on Wednesday.

"Susi Air management, as a pioneering flight operator, will soon make Trunojoyo Airport in Sumenep a home base for its planes," Fadillah said in Sumenep.

Established in 2004 by Christian von Strombeck and Susi Pudjiastuti, now the marine affairs and fisheries minister, Susi Air currently operates flights to several remote destinations in Indonesia by deploying small propeller planes, mostly Cessna Grand Caravans, according to Antara.

Trunojoyo Airport will be the fifth base for Susi Air aircraft, their four others are in Medan, Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, Balikpapan and Jayapura from which they fly to remote destinations in those areas.

Fadillah said that in 2015, the Transportation Ministry would make use of Trunojoyo Airport to serve three pioneer routes: Sumenep-Surabaya, Sumenep-Bawean in Gresik, and Sumenep-Kangean.

Susi Air is a scheduled and charter airline with 60 percent of its operations serving commercial regular routes and pioneer routes while the rest are for chartered flights.

"The management of Susi Air is currently making preparations to start new flights from Trunojoyo Airport, while coordinating with the relevant parties at Juanda airport in Surabaya to arrange the flight schedules," he said.

Fadillah explained that Susi Air would operate a Cessna Grand Caravan with a capacity of 12 passengers, to serve the Sumenep-Surabaya, Sumenep-Bawean, and Sumenep-Kangean routes.

"All technical matters relating to the new flights are handled by the relevant parties in the Transportation Ministry and the airline as the operator, but we confirm that new flights to and from Trunojoyo Airport will soon begin operating," he said. (hhr)