Qantas bolsters Jakarta-Sydney route

Qantas bolsters Jakarta-Sydney route

JAKARTA (JP): Australian airline Qantas Airways Limited will
operate two Boeing 747 airplanes to anticipate a surge in
passengers in its Jakarta-Sydney route during and after the
upcoming Olympic Games.

Qantas General Manager for Indonesia John Campbell said that
one of the 300-seater jets had started to fly the route to bring
in athletes and tourists to the sports event which will be
officially opened in Sydney on Sept. 15.

The other Boeing 747 jet would begin operating after the
closing of the Games on Oct. 1, he said, adding that the aircraft
would replace the 200-seater Boeing 767 jets.

"This will add some 600 seats a week for flights to and from
Jakarta," Campbell said in a ceremony commemorating the airline's
50 years of service to Indonesia.

He said that the number of passengers to and from Indonesia
had indicated a promising trend toward an increase in bilateral
business activities over the last couple of months.

In 1999 tourist arrivals had declined by about 30 percent due
to the strain in the relationship between Indonesia and
Australia, and due to the widely publicized difficulties in
Lombok, Campbell said.

"The signs are now more positive so we're working hard to get
people back to Indonesia," he said.

In September, Qantas will bring in travel journalists from
Australia and New Zealand to attend the annual Travel Indonesia
Mart Expo in Jakarta, and to see for themselves the condition of
the country, Campbell said.

The airline's average load factor for the first six months of
the year was at 70 percent for Jakarta and 80 percent for Bali,
he said.

Qantas began services to Jakarta 50 years ago and operated its
first flight to Denpasar, Bali in August 1969.

Today Qantas operates 25 flights a week, with 12 flights from
Jakarta and 13 flights from Denpasar to Australia and Singapore.

It services direct flights to Sydney from Jakarta five times a
week with connecting flights to Melbourne, Brisbane, and
Adelaide.

It also offers flights from Jakarta to Perth twice a week, to
Melbourne and Perth from Denpasar twice a week, and to Darwin,
Sydney and Singapore from Denpasar three times a week.

Qantas also operates direct flights to Singapore from Jakarta
five times a week, with connecting flights to Europe, Australia,
Hong Kong, and Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). (10)