Foreign airlines withdrawal won't affect tourism: Haryanto

Foreign airlines withdrawal won't affect tourism: Haryanto

JAKARTA (JP): The Minister of Transportation Haryanto
Dhanutirto said here yesterday Indonesia's tourism and aviation
industries would not be hurt if some international airline
companies quit their services to Denpasar, Bali.

The minister said no international airlines had notified the
government about quitting their services to the popular tourist
destination.

But if they did, it would not harm the country's aviation and
tourism industries, the minister said.

"I have asked foreign airlines to increase the frequency of
their flights to Indonesia. The most important thing is that they
serve Indonesia," he said after opening the refurbished Tanah
Abang railway station in Central Jakarta.

Antara news agency reported Monday that Germany's Lufthansa
and the Netherlands' KLM Royal Dutch Airlines would stop services
to Bali later this year because they were not profitable enough.

KLM recently decided to gradually cut its nine flights a week
to Indonesia to seven flights a week from Nov. 1, terminating its
services to Surabaya in East Java and Bali.

Lufthansa's top executive in Jakarta was not available
yesterday for comment.

The airline links Frankfurt and Jakarta daily and Frankfurt
and Denpasar twice weekly with Boeing B747-400 aircraft.

An Air France executive said yesterday that the carrier, which
currently served Paris-Jakarta four times per week, had quit
services to Bali a few years ago.

She said Air France would serve Jakarta five times a week
beginning June 17.

Indonesia wants more international air carriers to fly here.
Nineteen of its 23 airports cater for international flights. The
airlines are expected to offer routine flights to bring more
foreign visitors to the archipelago.

Indonesia's tourism industry is expected to play an
increasingly important role in the economy. The government hopes
it will become the country's largest foreign exchange earner in
the 2000s, replacing the oil and gas sector. Some 11.1 million
tourist are expected to visit Indonesia in 2005, spending $15
billion.

Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications data shows 38
foreign airlines regularly serve Indonesia offering 7 million
seats annually.

The annual seating capacity of international flights to
Indonesia needs to increase three times if the country is to meet
its target in 2005. (icn)