1.3m overseas airline tickets sold last year
1.3m overseas airline tickets sold last year
JAKARTA (JP): Domestic sales of international air tickets
issued by overseas airlines rose 15 percent to 1.3 million in
1996.
Djuarsa Joedadibrata, a senior executive of the International
Air Transport Association (IATA) in Indonesia, said yesterday
that this growth rate was higher than the previous year's growth
of 12 percent.
"The increase was caused by sound economic growth in Indonesia
in recent years. More people are traveling abroad for their
vacations," he told The Jakarta Post yesterday.
About 95 percent of the 1.3 million tickets had been bought by
Indonesians, Djuarsa said.
He said the growth rate would be higher this year.
"Though there is no significant relationship, the growth rate
of overseas (ticket sales) is likely to increase this year with
several foreign air carriers' plans to start direct flights to
Indonesia," he said.
Last December, Myanmar Airways International of Myanmar became
the 38th foreign airline with a regular service to Indonesia.
Several other foreign airlines -- including Northwest and United
Airlines of the United States, Lauda Air of Austria and Canada
Air -- are planning to open routes to Indonesia.
The government has designated 23 airports as international
gateways to the archipelago.
Djuarsa said that Indonesians could also buy tickets from
airlines which were not directly serving Indonesia.
"Many airlines like Swiss Air are doing well here though the
company has not flown to Indonesia directly," he said.
IATA recently announced that Asian air traffic was expected to
increase 8.6 percent a year on average between 1990 and 2010,
with two-thirds of this growth occurring in China.
The Geneva-based IATA has announced that air traffic within
the Asia-Pacific region would reach 200 million passengers by
2000, facilitated by the liberalization of air transport and
development of new airports.
The IATA said that demand for air transport in the region was
growing faster than in any other part of the world because of its
rapid economic growth.
Asia-Pacific passenger traffic grew by 10.3 percent a year on
average between 1985 and 1993, reaching 112 million passengers or
35.3 percent of the world's traffic. (icn)