Trunojoyo Airport to Serve as Home Base for Susi Air

Sumenep, East Java (Antara) - Light aircraft operator Susi Air will, in the near future, make Trunojoyo airport in Sumenep district on Madura Island in East Java its home base, according to Sumenep Transportation Office spokesman Moh Fadillah. \"Susi Air Management, as a pioneering flight operator, will soon make Trunojoyo airport in Sumenep district the home base for its planes,\" Fadillah said here on Wednesday. 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 Caravan. Trunojoyo airport will be the fifth base for the Susi Air planes as they have four in Medan, Jakarta\'s Halim Perdanakusuma airport, Balikpapan, and Jayapura from where they fly to remote destinations in those areas. Fadillah noted that in 2015, the Ministry of Transportation will make use of the 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 is for chartered flights. \"The management of Susi Air is currently making preparations to start new flights from Trunojoyo airport, while making coordination with the relevant parties at Juanda airport in Surabaya to arrange the flight schedules,\" he affirmed. Fadillah explained that Susi Air will operate a Cessna Grand Caravan plane, having a capacity of 12 passengers, to serve the Sumenep-Surabaya, Sumenep-Bawean, and Sumenep-Kangean routes. (*)