Qantas adds RI services

Qantas adds RI services

CANBERRA (Reuter): The International Air Services Commission said yesterday it had allocated additional capacity to Qantas Airways Ltd on the Indonesian route.

The commission said Qantas would use the extra capacity to add a fifth weekly Boeing 737 service between Darwin and Denpasar, and to introduce a twice weekly BAe146 service between Cairns and Timika in Irian Jaya.

"The services to Timika, in Irian Jaya, will be the first scheduled passenger services between Australia and that destination," the commission said in a statement.

But the commission said Indonesian authorities needed to re- classify the status of Timika airport from charter operations only to scheduled passenger services before the Timika service could begin.

"Negotiations to achieve this change in classification are underway," the commission said.

British Airways Plc owns 25 percent of Qantas.