Govt to allow increase in international air links

JAKARTA (JP): The government will soon allow an increase in the number of international air links with several foreign countries to boost foreign arrivals, Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto says.

He told Commission V of the House of Representatives here yesterday that his ministry is considering the establishment of a bilateral air relationship with, at least, 10 potential countries.

"We are studying to establish or improve air agreements with South Africa, Zaire, Mexico, Suriname, Venezuela, Argentina, Canada, Uzbekistan, Mauritius and Slovakia," Haryanto said.

He said Indonesia has recently completed the amendment of air agreements with the United States, Spain, New Zealand, Germany, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

"The government has also set four new airports to serve international flights, which include Blang Bintang in Aceh, Hasanuddin in Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi, Selaparang in Mataram of West Nusa Tenggara and Husein Sastranegara in Bandung of West Java," he said, adding that Lufftransport Unternehhmen (LTU) International Airways of Germany started services linking Medan in North Sumatra and Munich via Langkawi of Malaysia and Denpasar in Bali and Munich via Colombo early this month.

He also said that air services for Singapore and Malaysia have been improved by the addition of a number of international airports serving direct flights to the island republic, including Palembang in South Sumatra, Surabaya in East Java, Jakarta and Denpasar to Johor Bahru; Solo in Central Java and Ujungpandang in to Kuala Lumpur.

Meanwhile, Director General of Air Transportation Zainuddin Sikado told reporters after the hearing that three domestic airlines are welcome to serve flights to Singapore from Solo, Ujungpandang and Mataram.

"They can start the service whenever they are ready. The government has appointed Mandala, Merpati and Sempati to serve either Solo-Singapore, Mataram-Singapore and Ujungpandang- Singapore routes," he said.

The Indonesia Air Carriers' Association (Inaca) complained in a hearing with Commission V last week that the government has not yet picked any domestic airlines to cooperate with Singaporean air carriers in serving the routes. Meanwhile, Merpati Airlines, a subsidiary of the state-run airline Garuda Indonesia, has served the Bandung-Singapore route since Oct. 24. (icn)