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)