Indonesia, NZ to amend air accord

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia and New Zealand will amend an air agreement in October to enable their air carriers to increase flight services from the present six times weekly between them to 20 times, an official says.

Director of Marketing of the Directorate General of Tourism Den Zachrie told The Jakarta Post here yesterday that the number of visitors to and from both countries has been increasing steadily within the last few years.

Den was attending a luncheon for New Zealand Minister of Tourism John Banks, who arrived here on Thursday for a two-day visit to hold a meeting with Minister of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications Joop Ave. During his visit, Banks also met with the director of commerce of the national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, Koesoejono.

Banks said the number of Indonesian tourists visiting his country reached 11,000 last year, while visitors from New Zealand to Indonesia reached 30,000.

Air New Zealand's manager in Indonesia, Bob L. Fullarton, said that both his carrier and Garuda serve Denpasar and Auckland twice weekly in the low season and three times weekly in the high season. The load factor of Air New Zealand, operating Boeing-767 aircraft, is about 67 percent. (icn)