Air carriers association oppose open-sky policy
Air carriers association oppose open-sky policy
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Air Carriers Association (Inaca)
criticized the government's plans to introduce an open-sky
policy, saying that such a ruling is unlikely to attract foreign
tourists.
Inaca Secretary-General G.B. Rungkat said an open-sky policy
was unnecessary, and unlikely to boost the occupancy rates of
local hotels.
"This is a prescription based on the wrong diagnosis and
ignores both facts and logic," Rungkat said at an airline
industry seminar last week.
Existing bilateral agreements between airlines were enough to
bring in foreigners to Indonesia, he said.
"Under the agreements...foreign airlines are entitled to
enough flights a week, but they are not utilizing their maximum
capacities," he said.
"Whatever the problems of the hotel industry, it is not the
lack of flight frequency entitlements. In fact, a number of large
foreign carriers have reduced their flights to Indonesia,"
Rungkat said.
He made the statements partly in response to recent
suggestions from hoteliers that the government apply an open-air
policy to increase the occupancy rates of local hotels.
Rungkat said foreign carriers pulled out of Indonesia because
"airlines are not in the business of flying empty seats".
"They have discovered that traffic into, through and from
Indonesia is not enough to warrant the utilization of all their
frequency entitlements," he said.
"Capacity expansion does not automatically result in
additional traffic, thus they figure they are better-off fielding
their available capacity elsewhere," Rungkat said.
The government currently applies a limited open-sky policy
allowing national and foreign airlines to operate direct flights
from tourist-generating countries to various tourist destinations
in Indonesia.
Director General of Air Transportation Zainuddin Sikado told
the seminar that for this purpose, Indonesia has opened 23
airports for international services.
"This is to support the national tourist industry and
accommodate the needs of the national air-transport industry," he
said.
Zainuddin acknowledged that to anticipate the globalization
era, the government would continue to promote a competitive
environment on the basis of "fair and equitable opportunity and
reciprocity to ensure the participation of all air carriers".
"Sovereignty should be respected and there is a general
agreement that for the foreseeable future, the bilateral system
offers the best prospects for further competitive services," he
said.
The limited open-sky policy is currently applied to air routes
linking areas in the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle
(IMT-GT) and the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN
Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA).
Under an agreement signed by the governments of these sub-
regional groups, designated airlines are allowed to establish air
linkages (both scheduled and non-scheduled) at service points
within the groups.
"Taking the national interest into consideration, the
introduction of an open-sky policy should be implemented on a
gradual basis," Zainuddin said.
"For the time being, a limited open-sky policy is the best
possible approach toward an open-sky policy," he said.
Despite the rulings, the local administration of Irian Jaya
last September decided to declare the air over Biak an open-sky
area for international airlines.
According to Antara, the decision has yet to be approved by
Jakarta. (pwn)