Endorsable tickets to end discount war among airlines

Endorsable tickets to end discount war among airlines

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian National Air Carriers Association will begin issuing endorsable tickets and form a clearing house to end discount wars among domestic airliners, says the association's chairman, Soelarto Hardisoemarto.

"With endorsable tickets, domestic passengers who are booked with a particular airline can easily change their bookings to another airline if for some reasons they can't use their original booking," Soelarto told The Jakarta Post yesterday.

"The scheme will also help end discount wars," he added.

Last month the association fined five domestic airlines Rp 10 million each (about US$4,200) for violating an agreement on allowable airfare discount levels signed last May.

Under the agreement, discounts for travel agents are limited to a maximum of seven percent, far less than previous discounts reaching more than 40 percent. The agreement, signed by Garuda Indonesia, Merpati Nusantara, Bouraq Indonesia, Mandala Airlines, Dirgantara Air Service and Sempati Air, was effective as of last July, while the fines were effective as of November.

Out of the six signatories, only Dirgantara Air Service honored the agreement.

Soelarto also said yesterday that the association will form a clearing house this year which will supervise payments for the endorsable tickets.

The planned clearing house will include a group of banks and experts on the airline industry, he said without mentioning any names.

Soelarto also said that about seven million domestic tickets were sold in 1994. He projected that this year the number will rise to 10 million.(hdj/icn)