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)