Airplannne!

I always wondered why the US Embassy in Indonesia strongly recommends for us to fly Garuda Indonesia - the national carrier when flying in Indonesia. In the past few years, a few private airlines have opened up and offer very competitive prices. I've always thought about trying one of the other ones just to see what they're like. BUT not after today!

I got a forward from one of the listserves I subscribe to, and it talked about the age of aircraft fleet for Indonesian airlines. Scary!

Garuda Indonesia's average fleet age is 10.2. Other airlines I see around Banda Aceh and Medan are Adam Air, Lion Air, Mandala Air, and Jatayu Air. They're at 18.1, 17.3, 23.9, and 27.1 years respectively. 27.1! Mandala Air was the one that crashed in September 2005 right outside of Medan, killing 120+ passengers onboard.

To give you some other airlines to compare to: Singapore Airline's fleet averages 6.1 years, JetBlue is at 2.1, Southwest is at 9.4 and United is at a whooping 11.7 years. If you want to check other airlines you frequent, go to www.airfleets.net

But, statistically, it's still safer to fly than to drive! ...Well, maybe that statistic only applies to the US.