KLM airlines to end Surabaya, Bali service

JAKARTA (JP): KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will cut services to Indonesia later this year as part of a restructuring plan.

KLM's Jakarta general manager Frans Gruber said yesterday KLM's nine flights a week to Indonesia would be cut gradually to seven flights a week from Nov.1

KLM flies Boeing B-747-400 aircraft on its Indonesia route. The airline links Jakarta and Amsterdam via Singapore seven times a week and Amsterdam-Singapore-Surabaya-Denpasar twice a week.

Gruber said that on March 1 KLM would drop Surabaya from the twice-weekly route and fly Amsterdam-Singapore-Denpasar.

On June 23 KLM would reduce this to a weekly service, he said.

"We will discontinue this service after Nov.1. KLM will serve only Jakarta-Amsterdam via Singapore seven times per week," he said.

He said the Jakarta service was profitable but the one to Bali was not.

Gruber said KLM carried 200,000 passengers on its Indonesia routes last year, an 8 percent increase from 1995.

KLM's move contrasts with many other overseas airlines which plan to increase their services to Indonesia.

But Bali Airlines Representative Committee chairman Sukamto said the service cut would not hamper international tourist arrivals in Bali.

The Netherlands is one of Indonesia's major sources of European tourists after Britain and Germany. Indonesia's 10 biggest tourist markets are Singapore, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Australia, the United States, Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Korea.

"The cut is just temporary, we may double the service someday," Gruber said.

He said KLM would be able to accommodate passengers from the Netherlands intending to fly to Surabaya and Bali and because KLM and Indonesian national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia had a cooperation scheme.

In 1995 Garuda and KLM agreed to expand commercial flight cooperation so the two companies could use double flight numbers (GA/KL or KL/GA) on Indonesia-Netherlands routes.

Garuda has six flights linking Indonesia and the Netherlands, including Jakarta-Amsterdam four times a week (with B-747-400s) and Denpasar-Amsterdam (via Medan, North Sumatra, with B-747- 200s) twice a week.

Meanwhile, Ansett Australia announced yesterday it would increase flights between Australia and Indonesia from six to seven flights a week next month.

Ansett flies Jakarta-Sydney four times a week and Jakarta- Melbourne twice a week.

The extra Jakarta-Sydney flight will start March 20.

Ansett general manager Craig Wallace said Ansett carried 97,811 passengers to Jakarta from Australia and Kuala Lumpur last year, the airlines' first year of flying to Jakarta.

Ansett, the official airline for the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, also has 10 flights a week to Bali from Australia. (icn)