Bouraq to link Bali, Manado, Manila

JAKARTA (JP): Bouraq Airlines, one of Indonesia's six scheduled air carriers, will start service linking Manila and Manado in North Sulawesi and Bali early next year, an executive says.

The airline's vice president, Eddyono Salatun, told The Jakarta Post here yesterday that Bouraq will operate Boeing 737- 200s two times weekly in serving Manila.

He said that the service will likely be increased in the future when the market becomes more prospective.

"In peak seasons, so far about 50 percent of the passengers from Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, Guam and the United States' west coast aren't able to enter Indonesia," he said. "Bouraq aims to bring tourists from those countries from Manila."

He said Indonesia and the Philippines have appointed Garuda Indonesia, Bouraq Airlines and the Philippine Airlines as air carriers to establish beneficial, reciprocal air relationship between the two countries.

Bouraq, which has a fleet of seven Boeing 737-200s, three turbo-prop VC-840s, two Cassas and 15 turbo-prop HS/BAE-748s, has served the route between Davao in the southern Philippines and Manado since March.

Eddyono also said that Myanmar's Minister of Hotels and Tourism Let. Gen. Kyew Ba asked his company yesterday to discuss with officials from Myanmar about the possibility for Bouraq to link destinations between the two countries.

Kyew Ba and Cambodia's Minister of Tourism Veng Sereyvuth were here to attend the Tourism Indonesia Mart '94 held at the Jakarta Convention Center from Sept. 29 to Oct. 3. (icn)