Merpati expands Singapore service<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (JP): State-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines has
\nincreased its services to Singapore by inaugurating return
\nJakarta-Singapore flights in a bid to grab a greater share of the
\nregional air transport market.<\/p>\n
On Sunday Merpati commercial director Agus Riadi said Merpati,
\nwhich served mainly domestic routes, said the new route would
\nhelp promote the airline in the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n
Merpati inaugurated the daily Jakarta-Singapore route Saturday
\nby operating its 86-seat Fokker F-100 aircraft.<\/p>\n
"We understand that Merpati is facing tough competition, but
\nwe can't strengthen ourselves by serving only domestic routes,"
\nAgus said.<\/p>\n
Merpati currently links Singapore with four other Indonesian
\ncities. They are Bandung (West Java), Padang (West Sumatra),
\nPekanbaru (Riau) and Pontianak (West Kalimantan).<\/p>\n
He said the Jakarta-Singapore route was very competitive with
\nairlines catering to holiday makers, businesspeople and people
\nvisiting friends or relatives.<\/p>\n
Merpati marketing director Toto Nursatyo said Merpati expected
\nat least a 50 percent load factor on the new route during the
\nfirst quarter this year.<\/p>\n
"We expect to have the load factor increase gradually, but
\nplease don't ask me the expected maximum figure," he said.<\/p>\n
He said Merpati, which departs Jakarta at 7.05 p.m. for
\nSingapore and returns at 10.35 p.m. daily, expected 60 percent of
\nthe new route's passengers to be Indonesian and 40 percent
\nSingaporean.<\/p>\n
Merpati is competing with its parent company Garuda Indonesia,
\nSempati Air and a number of leading overseas air carriers like
\nthe Netherlands's KLM, Air France, Thai Airways, Australia's
\nQantas, Germany's Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and Singapore's
\nSilk Air.<\/p>\n
Several other foreign airlines like Pakistan Airlines, Air
\nIndia, Emirates, Royal Jordanian Airlines and Myanmar Air also
\nserve the Jakarta-Singapore route.<\/p>\n
Planned routes<\/p>\n
Agus said Merpati looked for passengers' potential needs in
\nits Singapore service.<\/p>\n
"For instance people can fly Merpati from Singapore to Jakarta
\nand return to Singapore from Bandung or vice versa. People can
\nalso fly Merpati from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta and return to
\nSingapore from Jakarta or Bandung," he said.<\/p>\n
Merpati which has more than 400 domestic flights a day has
\nlimited regional flights to Kuala Lumpur and the Australian
\ncities of Melbourne, Darwin and Port Headland.<\/p>\n
Merpati plans new routes including Jakarta-Hong Kong, Jakarta-
\nSeoul, Jakarta-Jeddah, Denpasar-Bangkok and another service to
\nJapan later this year.<\/p>\n
Merpati serves mainly domestic feeder routes and does not have
\nmuch money. The airline's development mission, assigned by the
\ngovernment, has inhibited the airline because it limits the
\nairline to serving pioneering, uncommercial routes to remote
\nareas.<\/p>\n
The company is also inefficient because its fleet has many
\ntypes of planes. Merpati's maintenance costs were unusually high
\nbecause of the variety of aircraft in its 80-plane fleet,
\ncomprising Airbus A-310-300s, Boeing B-737-200s, F-28s, F-27s,
\nATPs, Casa-212s, Twin Otters and CN-235s. Most are old.<\/p>\n
Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto announced
\nrecently Merpati suffered an estimated Rp 137.12 billion (US$58
\nmillion) loss last year, a bigger loss than the Rp 132 billion in
\n1995. The airline is expected to turn this around with a Rp 993
\nmillion profit this year.<\/p>\n
About 50 passengers were aboard its inaugural flight to
\nSingapore.<\/p>\n
Travel agency executives said Merpati should have scheduled
\nits flights earlier in the day. (icn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/merpati-expands-singapore-service-1447893297",
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