New chartered air carrier to begin operations soon
New chartered air carrier to begin operations soon
JAKARTA (JP): A private chartered air carrier has been
established and is scheduled to begin operations in February to
cater for cargo and passenger services to local and regional
destinations, a company executive said.
Commercial director of the newly established PT Camar Nuansa
Airservice, Jasman Karimin, said on Tuesday the company was
upbeat about generating US$2.44 million in net profits in 2000.
"The prospects for this business are very good, especially in
relation to cargo service. We are also expecting some profits
from passengers services. We have received orders to bring
Indonesian workers to regional countries like Malaysia," he told
The Jakarta Post.
He said the demand in cargo handling had recently been
increasing, partly due to the fact that several existing
scheduled airlines were unable to process all of their shipments
because they had focused their efforts more on passenger
services.
Data from the Directorate General of Air Transportation shows
the demand in cargo services has begun to recover, rising by a
paltry 2 percent to reach 108,357 tons in 1999 after plunging by
20.6 percent in 1998.
Jasman said the company would initially operate cargo services
from Jakarta to, among others, Balikpapan and Batam with
stopovers at Kuching in Malaysia and Seletar in Singapore.
As for passenger services, Camar will fly from Jakarta to
Bandung in West Java, Bandarlampung, West Nusa Tenggara, East
Nusa Tenggara as well as Irian Jaya, he said.
Camar's president, Capt. Almirul Bawono, said the airline was
currently negotiating with Air Royal Cambodia to provide
chartered services for Cambodian people residing in Australia and
New Zealand to fly to Phnom Penh.
"The passengers will be flown by Ansett Australia or Air New
Zealand to Bali, where they will be transferred to our planes to
go to Phnom Penh via Singapore," he said.
He added that Camar was also negotiating with Ansett to bring
tourists from Portheadland and Cairns in Australia to Bali.
Jasman said the company had invested no less than $1.5 million
to finance the initial preparation, including the procurement of
three Boeing 737-200s and two Russian Antonov An-12s for
operations in 2000.
The five planes were scheduled to arrive in Jakarta this
month, he said, adding that the firm planned to increase the
number of planes to reach 15 within five years.
There are currently about seven chartered airlines operating
out of 53 chartered airlines registered at the Ministry of
Communications. (cst)