Domestic routes start to open up to foreign firms

Domestic routes start to open up to foreign firms

JAKARTA (JP): The increase of foreign flight service to a
number of domestic destinations will force domestic carriers to
be more careful when choosing additional domestic routes,
Director General of Tourism Andi Mappi Sammeng said.

However, when speaking to reporters here yesterday, he added
that the opening of more airports in Indonesia to international
service will make it easier and more economical for foreign
visitors to reach tourist destinations.

The government has so far allowed a number of foreign airlines
to serve some Indonesian destinations other than the country's
traditional four points of entry for foreign visitors.

This foreign service has been blamed for causing losses to the
national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, taking business from its
domestic flight services in the first six months of this year.

Under a planned amendment of the air agreement between
Indonesia and Singapore, two Singaporean airliners, Singapore
Airlines and SilkAir, will be allowed to fly directly to nine
cities in Indonesia. Indonesia, in turn, will be allowed to
assign two more airlines to transport passengers between the two
countries, in addition to the three airlines which currently hold
those routes. The amendment is expected to be signed later this
month, when President Soeharto and Singapore Prime Minister Goh
Chok Tong hold a meeting in Yogyakarta.

The two Singaporean airlines currently serve 10 Indonesian
cities -- Denpasar, Medan, Surabaya, Manado, Padang, Pekanbaru,
Pontianak, Ambon, Biak and Jakarta.

An airline executive commented that the load factors of
domestic airlines will likely decline after the entrance of
foreign carriers to the routes connecting Jakarta and other
domestic destinations.

"Domestic airlines, therefore, should indeed create new
profitable routes within the country," Andi said.

Garuda is currently asking the government to allow it to serve
24 new domestic routes. It is now preparing its aging Fokker-28
aircraft to serve the proposed routes later this year.

Andi said yesterday that Indonesian airlines should not be
worried about the expected increase in the participation of
foreign airlines in domestic routes. "Basically, Indonesian
airlines' businesses will not be affected even though foreign
airlines operate several services to various destinations in the
country because the government has adopted a cabotage policy," he
said.

He said that, under the policy, foreign airlines are not
allowed to fly passengers from one destination to another within
Indonesia to avoid domestic airlines from suffering declines in
load factors.

Animal conference

Meanwhile, Minister Joop Ave said that Manado, North Sulawesi,
will host the first conference on eastern Indo-Australian
vertebrates on Nov. 22-27.

"The event will show that Indonesia has many wonderful tourist
facilities," he said.

He said that the event, focusing on "harmonizing vertebrates
conservation and human needs," will be organized by his ministry
in cooperation with the Ministry of Forestry, the Indonesian
Institute of Sciences (LIPI), the Bogor Institute of Agriculture
(IPB) and several non-governmental organizations, including the
Institute of Wallacea which is supported by State Minister of
Research and Technology B.J. Habibie.

Chairman of the conference's organizing committee, Soetikno
Wirjoatmodjo, said that some 100 scientists will attend the event
which will feature former minister Emil Salim as a keynote
speaker.(icn)