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)