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)