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)