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(JP/Andi Hajramurni)
Aviation fuel runs dry
Jakarta Post 27 jan
Thirteen flights scheduled to take off from Hasanuddin airport in Makassar, South Sulawesi, were left sitting on the tarmac (shown above) Wednesday due to a fuel shortage.
Rijal, a passenger on his way to Manado, said he had to wait several hours at the airport. His flight was supposed to leave at noon, but by 1 p.m. there was still no information on when the flight would depart. “The airline people only said the flights had been delayed because there was no aviation fuel. I had to wait for the plane to fuel up a couple hours later,” he said.
A spokesman for state oil and gas company PT Pertamina in Makassar, Julian Iskandar Muda, said they were running low on aviation fuel because their tanker ship, carrying 17,000 kiloliters of the fuel, could not reach the city as scheduled Tuesday due to bad weather. The ship reached Makassar on Wednesday afternoon. “We apologize to the people for the flight delays, but this was not how we planned it,” he said. (JP/Andi Hajramurni)