Govt licenses Merpati, Sempati to fly to Britain

Govt licenses Merpati, Sempati to fly to Britain

JAKARTA (JP): In addition to the country's flag carrier Garuda
Indonesia, the government has licensed two other airlines,
Merpati Nusantara and Sempati Air, to fly to Britain.

Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto announced
yesterday that the Indonesian and British governments would
discuss the planned additional air services next month.

"We have invited British Airways to increase its services to
Indonesia as many times as the airline likes," Haryanto said
after signing a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in
transportation with his visiting British counterpart, Sir George
Young, at his office here.

Currently British Airways links Jakarta and London, via Kuala
Lumpur, four times a week by operating Boeing B-747-400 aircraft.
Meanwhile, Garuda operates MD-11 jets on its London-Denpasar
service, via Abu Dhabi and Bangkok, twice a week.

Haryanto said that even though British Airways has the option
to increase its services to Indonesia, the British government
would also be able to assign another British airline to fly to
Indonesia.

"I informed the British secretary of state for transport (Sir
George Young) that Indonesia has selected Garuda, Sempati and
Merpati as the airlines to fly to Britain. We are now talking
about the reciprocity of three airlines," he said.

Apart from British Airways, other leading airlines in Britain
include Virgin Airlines and British Midland.

Railway

Haryanto also said that the accord inked yesterday was a
preliminary agreement and cooperation between Indonesian and
British businesses involved in transportation will hopefully
increase.

"For instance, Britain offers the development of double-track
railways and the relocation of Balai Yasa, the train maintenance
facility, in Manggarai to either Karawang or Cirebon in West
Java," he said.

Britain also offered its expertise in medium-speed train
services linking Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java, he said.

Britain offered the development of a 200-kilometer-per-hour
train service, including double railway tracks, but they had to
compete with Train a Grande Vitesse of France and Magnetic
Levelation of Germany, which also proposed a similar service for
the same route, the minister added.

Train a Grande Vitesse and Magnetic Levelation had previously
offered Indonesia a 300-kilometer-per-hour train and 400-
kilometer-per-hour train for the Jakarta-Surabaya route.

"We will welcome the offer if the company or its government
can provide soft loans of the best value to us."

Young was in Indonesia for a three-day visit starting on
Monday, leading a delegation of 19 businesspeople.

The delegation yesterday attended a presentation at the
Ministry of Transportation which featured transportation projects
open to private investors, including foreigners.

The offered projects include the establishment of mass rapid
transit systems in cities with at least one million population
such as Jakarta, Bandung in West Java, Surabaya in East Java,
Medan in North Sumatra, Semarang in Central Java, Palembang in
South Sumatra and Bandar Lampung in Lampung; the development of
commercial seaports in Medan, Jakarta, Balikpapan in East
Kalimantan, Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan, Ujungpandang in
South Sulawesi, Bitung in South Sumatra and Surabaya; and the
development of airports in Padang in West Sumatra, Lombok in West
Nusa Tenggara, Bandung, Biak in Irian Jaya and Nias in North
Sumatra.

Private investors are being encouraged to participate in the
projects through various arrangements, including build, own and
operate as well as build, operate and transfer schemes. (icn)