New air carriers to begin services next year

JAKARTA (JP): Three new regular air carriers will begin commercial services next year to support the country's air transportation, especially in eastern provinces, an official at the Ministry of Communications has said.

Directorate general of air transportation Sunaryo told journalists on Tuesday the three airlines were Pelita Air Service, Indonesian Airlines Avia Patria and Mentari Airlines.

"Indonesian Airlines Avia Patria is perhaps the most prepared firm. It is expected to commence passenger operations in January," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

He said Pelita Air Service, which has been operating as a chartered air carrier, and Mentari Airlines were still preparing for the licenses and routes.

Avia Patria and Pelita Air Service would use Boeing 373 aircraft on their routes, he added.

He said the government was considering providing more licenses for other airlines which planned to serve or switch from charter services to regular air carriers, to anticipate the possible increase in the passenger demand, especially in the eastern provinces and other remote areas, in the near future.

Sunaryo said the number of passengers flying domestic routes fell in 1998 and 1999 but was expected to rebound in 2000.

He said the number of domestic passenger dropped by 13 percent in 1999 from about 6.5 million people in 1998.

Seat capacity nationwide had also declined to about 10.5 million from 15 million in 1998, as a result of the cancellation of some unprofitable domestic routes by existing regular air carriers, such as state-owned firms Garuda Indonesia Airways, Merpati Nusantara Airlines and private air carriers Bouraq and Mandala, he said

Sunaryo said regular airlines had also reduced their fleet in order to cut operational costs, resulting a drop in the number of aircraft from 163 in 1998 to only 93 this year. (cst)