JAL's passengers to Indonesia rising

JAKARTA (JP): Japan Airlines' (JAL) Tokyo-Jakarta route has grown steadily since it began in May 1962.

JAL's president and regional manager for Indonesia, Yuho Konno, said yesterday JAL carried 195,533 passengers to Jakarta between April, 1996 and February, 1997 -- up 29.8 percent on the previous corresponding period.

"We have improved our services and are always ready to compete with other airlines in Asia," he said at the commemoration of JAL's 35th anniversary in serving Indonesia.

Japan is Indonesia's second biggest tourist market after Singapore.

Last year, 5.03 million foreign tourists visited Indonesia, of which 1.19 million were Singaporean and 638,287 Japanese.

Between April, 1996 and February 1997, 674,648 Japanese visited Indonesia, up 33.9 percent.

JAL, set up in 1952, opened its Jakarta office on May 15, 1962. JAL made its first landing at Kemayoran airport on July 16, 1972.

The carrier served Tokyo-Jakarta via Singapore, Bangkok and Hong Kong three times a week until April 1970. JAL began daily flights to Indonesia in 1991.

Currently, JAL serves Tokyo-Denpasar via Jakarta seven times a week with Boeing B-747-200s and B-747-300s.

In an effort to improve and expand its Indonesian services, JAL has assigned its subsidiary, Japan Asia Airlines (JAA), to serve its Osaka-Jakarta-Denpasar-Jakarta route.

Last month JAA began daily flights linking Osaka, Jakarta and Denpasar with DC-10s.

JAL competes with Indonesia's national carrier Garuda Indonesia which flies to Tokyo daily with B-747-300s and to Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka three times a week with Airbus A-330s.

The United States' Northwest Airlines has postponed its planned three-times-a-week Osaka-Jakarta service because of a dispute between the U.S. and Japan.

Northwest planned to start a Seattle-Osaka-Jakarta route last July.

Another U.S. carrier, has also delayed a planned San Francisco-Osaka-Jakarta service three times a week because Japan denied it intra-Asian traffic rights.

Konno said leading Asian airlines were now competing fiercely in the Asia-Pacific.

He said JAL expected to gain at least a third of the traffic in the rapidly growing Asia-Pacific market.

"Creating alliances with other airlines is necessary for any airline to meet the demand and remain competitive in the market," he said.

JAL serves 39 cities internationally and 21 destinations in Japan. JAL has several subsidiaries including JAA and Japan Transocean Air.

Besides air transport, JAL has other travel-related businesses in Indonesia.

JAL has a stake in PT Wisma Nusantara International, which owns Wisma Nusantara office building and Jakarta's four-star President Hotel.

Wisma Nusantara which is also owned by Japan's Mitsui, the Ministry of Finance and PT Indosemen Tunggal Perkasa, will build two towers later this year. One of the towers will have a 300- room hotel.

JAL Hotels Company Ltd, a JAL subsidiary, manages the 315-room President Hotel and Bali's new five-star Nikko Hotel.

JAL also has 80 percent of PT Pantara Wisata Jaya, which runs marine resorts on three small islands in the Seribu Islands. (icn)