Pelita plans to operate scheduled flights in April

JAKARTA (JP): Private charter air carrier PT Pelita Air Service said it would expand its business into the scheduled airline sector in April 2000 to serve 12 destination cities across the country.

Company president Soeratman said on Wednesday the company was upbeat that it would be able to generate reasonable revenues despite imminent competition with five existing scheduled airlines.

"We expect our new business will contribute about Rp 100 billion (US$14.2 million) to our predicted total revenues of Rp 600 billion for 2000," he told The Jakarta Post after witnessing the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the company and national airline Garuda Indonesia.

Under the contract, Garuda's maintenance facility will take care of the maintenance and repair of Pelita Air's Fokker 28.

Soeratman said Pelita Air was currently preparing to meet all the requirements set by the government in order to obtain the airline operation certificate, a prerequisite for a scheduled airline.

The preparations for the requirements, including the standardization of manual operation procedures and procurement of aircraft, got under way four months ago and were expected to be completed sometime in the first quarter of 2000, he said.

Soeratman said the company, which is a subsidiary of state oil and gas company Pertamina, invested no less than $15 million to support, among other things, the procurement of aircraft.

He said Pelita Air would initially operate seven aircraft, comprising four Boeings and three Fokkers, to support its operation of 15 routes to the 12 destinations.

"We are going to focus on domestic routes first, especially the main cities in Sumatra and Kalimantan, as well as several destinations in Java and Nusa Tenggara," he said.

He said Pelita Air, which started operation in 1970, currently operates as a charter air carrier, serving mainly mining, timber and oil companies in the country.

It currently has 48 aircraft, comprising 24 fixed-wing aircraft and 24 helicopters, he said. He said the company's decision to enter the scheduled service business was to take advantage of the government's new approach in the aviation sector by allowing more airlines to serve as scheduled carriers.

The Directorate General for Air Transportation of the Ministry of Communications has in previous years limited the number of scheduled airlines due to low passenger demand.

However, it recently decided to give existing charters or new air carriers chances to apply for a license on scheduled airlines to serve the idle domestic routes previously flown by the now defunct Sempati Air.

The directorate reported three carriers -- Pelita Air Service, Indonesian Airlines Avi Patria and Mentari Airlines -- were among the most prepared applicants.

Indonesian Airlines said it obtained the principle certificate and would commence operation, serving 46 domestic routes in January 2000.

Indonesia currently has five operating scheduled airlines, namely national airline Garuda Indonesia and Merpati Nusantara Airlines and privately owned Bouraq, Mandala and Dirgantara Air Service, in addition to 56 chartered air carriers.

The country's entire fleet serves 134 routes to over 90 destinations across the archipelago.

The five scheduled airlines serve about 65 of 134 total routes on an average load factor of 65 percent, which is higher than the 50 percent average recorded last year. (cst)