Private airline Star Air to begin services Sunday
Private airline Star Air to begin services Sunday
JAKARTA (JP): Private local airline Star Air will commence
services on Sunday with flights from Jakarta to Makassar in South
Sulawesi and to Surabaya in East Java.
Company vice president J. Tumenggung said on Friday that Star
Air chose to fly from Jakarta to both provinces after identifying
growing demand in the areas.
"We're optimistic about receiving a good response from the
public," he told a news conference.
Scheduling and product planning manager Emizola Maas said the
airline would carry 53 passengers to Makassar and 30 passengers
to Surabaya on its maiden flights.
"For the first year, we're targeting to get a load factor of
50 percent on both routes," he said, adding that the company
would offer discounts during the first month of operation to
attract customers.
The airline is one of the new private airlines allowed to
operate in the country since the government deregulated the
airline sector last year.
Including Star Air, there are now seven new private airlines
operating in the country, aside from state-owned Garuda
Indonesia, Garuda's subsidiary Merpati Nusantara, Mandala
Airlines and Bouraq Indonesia, which were allowed to operate
prior to the deregulation. The other new private airlines are
Dirgantara Air Services, Bayu Indonesia Air, Awair Internasional,
Lion Mentari Airlines, Pelita Air Service and Airmark Indonesia.
According to Emizola, Star Air will fly the Jakarta-Makassar
route once daily and the Jakarta-Surabaya route twice daily.
Passengers will be transported on a Boeing 737-200 plane that
has 99 seats, comprising eight for business class and 91 for
economic class, Emizola said, adding it was one of the two planes
the airline had chartered from international leasing firm Sigfen
1 this year.
The other Boeing 737-200 will arrive at the end of this month,
he said.
Star Air pays between $85,000 and $125,000 a month for the
leasing, he added.
Departure time from Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta to
Hasanuddin Airport, Makassar, will be at 6 a.m. while the return
flight from Makassar will be at 10 a.m. local time.
For the Jakarta-Surabaya flight, the plane will depart from
Jakarta at 12:30 p.m. and depart Surabaya for the return flight
at 2:30 p.m.
It will take off from Jakarta once again at 4:30 p.m. and
leave Surabaya at 6:30 p.m.
The airline plans to operate more local routes including the
Jakarta-Medan, Jakarta-Batam and Jakarta-Balikpapan routes as
well as fly between Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur.
"We hope to obtain a permit for the Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur
service in the next two months," he said.
Star Air, established in May last year, is a joint venture
between PT Dwipusaka Abadi, which controls 75 percent of the
airline, and PT Habitat Saga Perkasa with 25 percent. The
company's total investment is valued at Rp 200 billion (US$17.5
million).
Dwipusaka Abadi is a holding company of three tour and travel
agents: Anta Tour, Vaya Tour and Ramada Bintang Bali Hotel
Tour.(5)