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)