Lufhansa sees growth in passenger loads
JAKARTA (JP): Lufthansa is predicting robust growth in its passenger-loads to and from Indonesia this year despite the troubled security situation in the country.
The German airline's vice president for Asia and Pacific, Manfred Reimer, said here on Friday that he was optimistic the number of passengers would double to 500,000 from 250,000 last year.
He acknowledged the uncertain security situation in some parts of the archipelago could discourage both businesspeople and tourists from visiting the country. But he believed the situation would immediately return to normal in line with the government's serious efforts to solve the problem.
The government's strong commitment to speed up the country's economic recovery by providing a more conducive business climate will also result in increased business activities with other countries, he said.
"We have seen some good signs of recovery here ... and we hope that the political situation will not worsen so that peace will soon return," he told a media briefing.
Sectarian conflicts, which have persisted for more than a year in the onetime spice islands of Maluku, have spread to nearby provinces such as South Sulawesi and West Nusa Tenggara.
Recent unrest led several foreign countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom and Switzerland, to apply strong travel warnings on their citizens from visiting Lombok.
Reimer said that in order to anticipate the increase in seat demand, the airline would operate three new code-sharing flights with Singapore Airlines beginning Feb. 1 to transport passengers from Jakarta to Singapore as part of Lufthansa's service to Frankfurt.
Lufthansa opened two new direct flights from Jakarta to Frankfurt two weeks ago, bringing to seven its weekly flights between Germany and Jakarta.
"The opening of these new services reflects our strong hope on Indonesia, which has been one of our potential markets in the region," he said.
General manager of the airline's Jakarta office Carlos M. Heinemann said Indonesia contributed 2.1 percent, or around US$80 million, to Lufthansa's total gross revenues in Asia last year.
"We expect to see a 100 percent increase in the revenues this year in line with the surge in passengers demand to and from Jakarta."
He said Lufthansa would improve its service by implementing an Internet-based booking system for its Indonesian market.
"We are ready with the content application. But we have to wait for Indonesia's airport management firm Angkasa Pura to develop the required infrastructure to support the application of the integrated Internet booking and electronic ticket system."
The airline has sold tickets for the Jakarta market on the company's website since March 1999, with 300 tickets purchased so far. (cst)