Only Batam will serve foreign cargo jets
Only Batam will serve foreign cargo jets
JAKARTA (JP): The government, which is inviting foreign passenger airlines to serve more domestic airports, is to limit overseas cargo aircraft to Hang Nadim airport on Batam Island, a minister said yesterday.
"Any foreign cargo jets interested in entering Indonesia will be required to stop at Batam and not to proceed to any other airports in the country," Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto told The Jakarta Post after installing officials of his ministry at a ceremony here.
He said that such a policy is necessary to protect the interests of domestic cargo airlines.
Hang Nadim airport, about 20 kilometers southeast of Singapore, is currently being developed as an international transport hub for scheduled and chartered passenger and cargo flights, he said.
Director General of Air Transportation Zainuddin Sikado said that foreign cargo carriers are being urged to cooperate with domestic airlines to serve other destinations in the country.
KLM and Martin Air of the Netherlands, for instance, have established links with the national air carrier Garuda Indonesia to handle air cargoes, he said.
"We have to protect domestic airlines and avoid what has happened in sea cargo transportation," he said.
In sea transportation, domestic vessels transport only 2.3 percent of the country's exports and imports, while the other 97.7 percent are carried by ships flying foreign flags.
Sikado said he had recently rejected a proposal from Federal Express, a U.S. air cargo giant which wanted to serve Indonesia through Jakarta.
"The air cargo business has great potential. Cargoes transported on the Indonesia-Singapore and Indonesia-Hong Kong routes reach, for example, about 50 tons and 57 tons per day, respectively," he said.
Service
Hang Nadim airport, whose expansion was inaugurated last December, is one of the country's 19 international gateways. With its 4,000-meter runway, it is able to handle seven wide-bodied and six smaller-bodied aircraft.
Sikado, who was installed yesterday as chief commissioner of the state-owned airport management firm PT Angkasa Pura I, also said that the government had licensed Sempati Air and Merpati Nusantara Airlines to operate wide-bodied jets to fly to the United States.
"The two airlines may, in addition to Garuda Indonesia, operate Airbus A-340s or Boeing B-777s to fly to the United States."
Indonesia, which applies a reciprocal basis in its bilateral air accords, has licensed Northwest and United Airlines of the United States to fly to Indonesia.
At yesterday's ceremony, Haryanto also installed Umar Rusdi as chief commissioner of PT Pelabuhan Indonesia I, Director General of Sea Transportation Soentoro as chief commissioner of PT Pelabuhan Indonesia II and chief of the Research and Development Agency of the Ministry of Transportation Soebagijo Soemodihardjo as chief commissioner of PT Pelabuhan Indonesia III.
Herman Prayitno was installed as president of PT Pelabuhan Indonesia III, Muhammad Muntaqa as president of PT Pelayaran Djakarta Lloyd, Syahwin Hamid, as president of PT Angkutan Sungai Danau dan Penyeberangan, Dwi Wahyono Sjamhudi as president of Perum Kereta Api and Iskandar B. as president of PT Biro Klasifikasi Indonesia. (icn)