JAL's passengers to Indonesia rising

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)