Domestic air routes to remain served

Domestic air routes to remain served

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto
guaranteed yesterday that all existing domestic flight routes
would remain served even though several airlines had reduced
their flight frequencies.

"The government guarantees that there will be flights on all
routes at least once a week to guarantee the stability of goods
distribution and travelers," Haryanto was quoted by Antara as
saying.

He said the government understood that operators of domestic
flights had to temporarily halt some flights to several
destinations because of a decreasing market caused by a downturn
in the economy and a rise in ticket prices.

At the same time the prices of aircraft spare parts has
increased by three to five times as they are bought in U.S.
dollars.

The rupiah has sunk by 70 percent against the dollar since
last July.

If the private carriers could no longer operate the routes,
the country's two state-owned airlines, Garuda Indonesia and
Merpati Nusantara, would serve the routes, Haryanto said.

He also urged airlines to renegotiate the rents of their
aircraft. If an airline could no longer operate because it could
not afford the rent, it should cancel the rental contract
immediately, he said.

"It is better to cover small losses from contract
cancellations than enduring longer-term losses," he said.

The minister also urged airlines to reevaluate their routes,
and restructure routes and reduce flight frequencies if load
factors were declining significantly.

Five commercial airlines operate in the country, three of
which are privately owned; Bouraq Indonesia, Mandala Airlines and
Sempati Air.

The monetary crisis has seen the number of people traveling
around the country plummet and forced domestic airlines to reduce
flights or suspend services on several routes.

The largest national carrier Garuda has reduced its flight
frequencies on six of its domestic routes.

Sempati, the country's largest private airline, has decided to
close seven of its domestic and international routes beginning
March 1.

Merpati has reduced flight frequencies on nine domestic routes
since Feb. 1. (das)