New air carriers to begin services next year

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)