BA upbeat on new services despite monetary crisis
BA upbeat on new services despite monetary crisis
JAKARTA (JP): British Airways is set to boost its services in
Indonesia and is upbeat that the country's economic problems will
not hamper its expansion plan.
The airline's marketing manager for Indonesia Maureen Budiman
said the monetary crisis and the haze problem, which had been
affecting the country, would only be temporary.
She said the buying power of Indonesia's middle-class would
continue to increase despite the monetary problem, which had
slashed the value of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar by about
35 percent since the crisis began in early July.
To cater to Indonesians' growing buying power, British Airways
will increase its services connecting Jakarta and London through
Kuala Lumpur to seven times a week in October 1998.
British Airways currently serves the Jakarta-London route five
times a week, except on Monday and Friday.
"We are looking forward to serving the daily Jakarta-London
route through Kuala Lumpur in October next year," Maureen said
recently.
She said the Ministry of Transportation and the Ministry of
Tourism, Post and Telecommunications had approved the plan and
British Airways was now waiting for the go-ahead from Indonesian
flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and the British government.
She said the British government and Garuda Indonesia had yet
to discuss compensation for Garuda for the additional services by
British Airways.
"The Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia should receive
compensation for the new services by British Airways. They are
discussing the case now," she said.
Maureen said the depreciation of currencies across Southeast
Asian had little impact on the British airline's business.
"We only felt the rupiah's depreciation against the American
dollar earlier this month," she said.
She said business between July and October was normal.
"This week has really been lousy for business," she said.
She said the average load factor for the Jakarta-London route
was 70 percent on normal business days. She declined to mention
the rate on lousy days.
Thick haze, which has covered most parts of the region and has
caused a drop in tourism, also did not adversely affect the
airline's business in Indonesia.
"Jakarta hasn't felt the impact of the thick haze -- unlike
Kuala Lumpur. So the Jakarta-London route is not affected by the
haze at all," she said.
British Airways operates 356-seat Boeing 747-400 aircraft
along the Jakarta-London route.
Maureen said the seat configuration consisted of 13 first-
class seats, 56 business-class seats and the remaining for
economy class.
She said the British airline had allocated some Rp 24 trillion
(US$7 billion) in new investment to improve its services,
aircraft, facilities and training for the next three years.
The new investment would cover the purchase of 43 new
aircraft, including 29 Boeing 747-400s, nine 777s and five 757s.
"This will give the airline a huge fleet of 67 Boeing 747-400s
in a fleet of over 300 aircraft," she said.
Currently, British Airways operates 308 aircraft serving 90
countries worldwide and has major alliances with Qantas Airways
and American Airlines. (aly)