Adam Air Replacing Boeing 737s with Airbus 320s

Adam Air is planning to replace its Boeing 737s with wide-bodied Airbus 320s to serve a number of routes in Indonesia, the airline company's sales director said.

"We will operate 40 Airbus planes in stages starting in 2008 to meet the demand of passengers for a more convenient and comfortable flight," Gugi Pringwa Saputra said on Wednesday.

With the additional planes, the airline company would open new routes, including the Manado-Gorontalo and Manado-Makassar-Jakarta lines, he said.

"Likewise, we are also studying the possibility of opening flights to a number of areas in eastern Indonesia," he said.

An Adam Air Boeing 737-400 plane with 102 people on board went missing on its flight from Surabaya, East Java, to Manado, North Sulawesi, on Jan 1.

Until Wednesday, search and rescue workers continued the search for the missing plane believed to have gone down in the ocean west of Sulawesi.

Air Force Commodore Eddy Suyanto, who is leading the search effortSsaid workers had gathered 107 pieces believed to belong to the ill-fated airplane as of Tuesday.

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