Foreign airlines see improvement in RI flights

Foreign airlines see improvement in RI flights

JAKARTA (JP): Several foreign airlines have reported a
turnaround in their business in Indonesia and expected the
revival will continue in line with signs of the country's
economic recovery.

An executive at Japan Airlines said the business turnaround
was seen in the improving load factor of some major airlines
serving the country.

"Japan Airlines itself saw a load factor of 80 percent in July
and reached the peak of 95 percent from August to September," he
told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

The source, who asked for anonymity, said the Japanese airline
expected to see a load factor of between 70 percent and 90
percent until the end of the year.

Air France's customer service manager Nina Soenoto said the
airline also experienced a better condition lately with the
demand for tickets continuing to increase.

"We now have an average load factor of 85 percent. We expect
it to further increase until January next year," she said.

She said Air France had already received lots of group
reservations for the year-end session for flights to Singapore
and Paris.

The promising signs of economic recovery and the relatively
smooth process for the transfer of the transitional government
from President B.J. Habibie to a president elected by the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) later this month have
brought fresh hopes for the establishment of lasting stability in
the country, which has been battered by conflicts and chaos.

The promising scenario of the country's stability has led the
government to revise upward its prediction on inbound tourist
arrivals for 1999 from between 3.9 million and 4.4 million to
between five million and 5.5 million.

Data from the Ministry of Tourism, Arts, Culture on inbound
arrivals through Indonesia's 13 major gateways shows that 1.86
million foreigners, including foreign journalists and United
Nations officials who prepared for East Timor's August ballot,
visited Indonesia in the first six months of 1999, up by more
than 10 percent on 1.69 million visitors the country had in the
corresponding period for 1998.

Bali experienced the highest increase, 32.3 percent, in the
first half by receiving 683,083 foreigners, while Batam saw a 17
percent increase in the number of foreign visitors to reach
606,188.

Jakarta, however, was still suffering from a decline in
inbound tourist arrivals as it experienced a 18.3 percent drop in
the number of foreign visitors to 360,186 during the first six
months.

The prolonged economic and political crisis that has affected
the country since 1997 has resulted in the significant decline in
both inbound and outbound traveling in Indonesia, especially
Jakarta, forcing some foreign airlines to cut flight frequencies.

Reports said the drop in inbound flights by several foreign
airlines operating in the country reached 29.4 percent in 1997
and down to 46.4 percent in 1998.

Among the airlines that cut their flight frequencies was Air
France, which reduced its Paris-Singapore-Jakarta flights from
six times a week to three times a week in March due to the
significant decline in seat demand.

According to Nina, the reduction helped the airline cut
operational costs.

However, there were several foreign airlines that had
increased their frequencies, such as Japan Airlines and Qantas
Airways.

Japan Airlines doubled its flights from Tokyo and Osaka to
Indonesia from seven times a week to 14 times a week in March. In
October 1998 it launched tour-package flights to Los Angeles and
Las Vegas.

The source from Japan Airlines said the airline could maintain
its load factor and did not have to reduce flights due partly to
the success of the tour packages promotion.

"The flights to the two cities alone contributed about 30
percent of the airline's total load factor," he said.

Qantas also increased the number of direct flights to Jakarta
and Bali to reach 34 flights in March in a bid to meet the higher
demand from Australia for seats to the two tourist spots.

The Indonesian government predicts to receive up to 354,150
international tourists in October, 354,500 in November and
404,530 in December.

British Airways sales manager Caroline Widjaja expressed
optimism toward a high load factor at the end of the year.

"Because this is the millennium. Despite the currently very
dynamic situation with the country, we remain optimistic that
many Indonesians will look forward to getting away from home to
celebrate the millennium," she said, adding that British Airways
would offer special Millennium Package flights to Europe starting
from Dec. 10. (cst)