Endorsable air tickets to start in 1996

Endorsable air tickets to start in 1996

JAKARTA (JP): Six airlines have agreed to start issuing
endorsable tickets for domestic flights as of next year, in order
to prevent price wars on airfares.

The agreement was signed on Wednesday evening by Subagyo of
Mandala Airlines, Hasan Soedjono of Sempati Air, Soepandi of
Garuda Indonesia, Budiarto Subroto of Merpati Nusantara, Danny R.
Sumendap of Bouraq Indonesia and Makky Perdanakusumah of the
Dirgantara Air Service.

"But many details must be discussed before the implementation
of the agreement in January 1996," chairman of the Indonesian Air
Carriers Association (Inaca) Soelarto Hadisumarto said after
witnessing the signing of the agreement.

He said a working committee has been appointed to study about
30 items to make the airline business stable after the
introduction of the endorsable ticketing system.

Soelarto witnessed the signing ceremony together with Minister
of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto, Director General of Air
Transportation Zainuddin Sikado and Inaca's Secretary-General
Benny Rungkat.

According to Soelarto, the details still to be worked out
include rules on the validity of endorsable tickets, baggage
handling, insurance, accounting systems, documentation and
billing.

He said that, under the new scheme, the airlines will be able
to collect fare payments due them from Bank Central Asia, which
has been appointed to play a role in the system.

Soelarto said that endorsable ticketing, which will allow
passengers to fly any of the six air carriers on the same routes,
will be sold only by travel agents grouped in the Indonesian
Association of Travel Agencies (Asita).

He acknowledged that the endorsable ticketing system for
domestic routes will face a number of challenges because the six
air carriers will still be able to issue non-endorsable tickets.

"The airlines will still be able to issue their own non-
endorsable tickets in exceptional circumstances," Soelarto said.

The prices of endorsable tickets, which cannot be discounted,
will be higher than non-endorsable ones, while travel agents will
sell only endorsable tickets, he said.

Hasan of Sempati said that airlines frequently used barter
arrangements in which non-endorsable tickets used as payments.

"We will monitor the implementation of non-endorsable
ticketing very carefully, so that such tickets will not be sold
to customers," he said. He did not specify whether violators of
the agreement would face sanctions.

Last year, the six airlines signed an agreement on the
limitation of fare discounting. That agreement threatens any
violator with a fine of Rp 10 million (US$4,370).

Hasan said that in future only 20 percent of the total
domestic tickets issued annually will be non-endorsable ones.

The number of issued domestic tickets is estimated at Rp 2
trillion ($875 million) in value per year. (icn)