Foreign airlines asked to increase flights to RI

Foreign airlines asked to increase flights to RI

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto
has asked foreign airlines to increase the frequency of their
flights to Indonesia and asked foreign countries to open up more
destinations to Indonesian airlines.

"The purpose is to help Indonesia meet its target of 7 million
foreign tourist arrivals by the year 2000," the minister was
quoted by Antara as saying in Paris Thursday.

The minister is currently touring several countries in Europe.

In Paris, Haryanto spoke to the French Civil Airlines
Directorate General and Air France about flying "as many flights
as possible" to the 23 airports in Indonesia open to
international flights.

The minister said he would propose the same offer to other
foreign air carriers, including KLM, British Airways, JAL, China
Airlines, Eva Air, Cathay Pacific and Lufthansa.

Haryanto said Air France plans to increase the number of its
flights to Indonesia from four times a week to once a day.

"In return we called on France to permit Indonesian airlines
to increase their flights there, and to give them the right to
fly to Nice," said the minister.

In France, the minister and his entourage, including a
director of the state-owned railway firm Perumka, Soemino
Ekosaputro, also visited the Cegelec railway firm in Rouen to see
its light rail system.

The system is reportedly going to be applied in Bandung, West
Java, by Cegelec in cooperation with Perumka under a build,
operate and transfer (BOT) scheme.

"For that purpose, they (Cegelec) have asked to do a study on
investment value and ticket prices. I asked them to finish the
study by year's end," Haryanto said.

From France, the minister and his entourage will proceed to
visit an airport in Frankfurt (Germany) as well as ports in
Bremen (Germany) and Amsterdam (the Netherlands) before attending
a ceremony for the delivery of a passenger ship bought by the
state-owned shipping company Pelni in Papenburg, Germany. (jsk)