ANA to fly to Bali regularly

JAKARTA (JP): All Nippon Airways (ANA) is scheduled to begin flying from Tokyo to Denpasar, Bali, via Jakarta today, after serving Indonesia with charter flights for two decades.

ANA Managing Director Yuzuru Matsumoto said yesterday that ANA would fly the route twice a week, Wednesdays and Saturdays, using a 213-seat Boeing 767-300 aircraft.

"In the first year of operations, the airline anticipates carrying 27,000 passengers and 1,400 tons of cargo," Matsumoto said.

Matsumoto said Indonesia, particularly Bali, was a major tourist destination for Japanese. Last year, 486,000 Japanese flew to Indonesia, making up 11.2 percent of total inbound traffic.

Japanese tourist arrivals ranked third after Singapore and Malaysian arrivals.

Matsumoto said that apart from serving Indonesia's booming tourist market, ANA would freight a lot of air cargo.

Japan's exports to Indonesia increased 40 percent last year, while exports to Japan increased 20 percent. In terms of cargo flows to Indonesia, Japan ranks fourth after Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, he said.

ANA serves 100 Japanese domestic routes and 43 international routes, including the new Denpasar service.

According to Matsumo, ANA ranks sixth on the International Air Transport Association's list of the world's largest passenger carriers. The first five are United States-based carriers.

In the fiscal year ending March, 1995, ANA made US$7.9 billion in revenue, $256 million in operational profit and $29 million in net profit. (pwn)