Indonesia agrees to allow MAS add more flights

Indonesia agrees to allow MAS add more flights

Reuters, Kuala Lumpur

Indonesia has agreed to allow Malaysian state carrier
Malaysian Airline System (MAS) to add more services to four
Indonesian cities, a Malaysian minister said on Thursday.

Transport Minister Ling Liong Sik was quoted by the official
Bernama news agency as saying that MAS would raise the number of
its flights to Denpasar, Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya from March
2002.

The move was agreed at a two-day meeting between Malaysian and
Indonesian civil aviation authorities in Kuala Lumpur that ended
on Wednesday.

Ling said from March, MAS would operate three Airbus A330
flights a day each to Jakarta and Medan from Kuala Lumpur from
two flights currently.

The Kuala Lumpur-Jakarta route will be eventually increased to
four times a day to cope with the growing demand by business
travelers, he said.

Ling said Kuala Lumpur-Denpasar and Kuala Lumpur-Surabaya
flights would be increased to twice a day from one currently. The
flights will also use Airbus planes.

"It is being done as part of MAS' rationalization program
which includes concentration on regional routes," he said.

MAS recently unveiled plans to discontinue flights to 12
destinations, cut jobs and sell assets to tackle an industry-wide
crisis following the September 11 attacks on the United States.

MAS shares closed three cents down at 1.90 ringgit on
Thursday.