Maiden flight of new local airline

Maiden flight of new local airline

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan

North Sumatra Governor T. Rizal Nurdin inaugurated on Wednesday
the maiden commercial flight of Sutera I Airlines from Medan,
capital of North Sumatra, to Sibolga in a bid to connect the
province's more isolated areas.

The launch of Sutera I to seven western coastal regencies and
municipalities followed the signing of a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) between the province and state-owned PT
Merpati Nusantara Airlines on Jan. 3.

Rizal said after the launching ceremony that the provincial
administration was duty-bound to open up isolated parts of the
province's west coast instead of merely seeking profits,
particularly after the cancellation of Sutera flights by a
Malaysian airline company several months ago.

North Sumatra canceled unilaterally its cooperation with PT
Rabin Global Air Servindo, owned by a Malaysian entrepreneur, to
fly Sutera routes to the western coast due to a dispute with the
company.

According to the governor, North Sumatra will provide a Rp 3.5
billion subsidy for Merpati this year from the regional budget at
the ceiling of Rp 4,622,753 per flight hour or around 70 percent
of the number of seats.

"It means the subsidy will be reduced when the number of
passengers nears full capacity, with profits to be shared at the
ratio of 30 percent for North Sumatra and 70 percent for
Merpati," he explained.

Half of the subsidy fund will be borne by the provincial
administration and the other half is evenly shared by the seven
regencies/municipalities, namely Central Tapanuli, Sibolga, Nias,
Padang Sidempuan, South Tapanuli, North Tapanuli and Mandailing
Natal.

Merpati president Hotasi Nababan told The Jakarta Post that
his firm would strive to minimize the subsidy over the next six
months and gradually phase out the aid thereafter.

The Merpati leader was also there to witness the signing of a
cooperation agreement on air cargo transport from and to North
Sumatra's western coast, between Governor Rizal Nurdin and PT
Manunggal Air Service Jakarta's President Director Zainal
Sudarmadji.