Qantas to expand Indonesian services

JAKARTA (JP): To cope with the increasing number of Indonesians visiting Australia, the continent's flagship airline Qantas Airways will launch more services to and from Jakarta starting October this year.

Qantas' manager for Indonesia, Peter Collins, said here yesterday that his company will operate two additional flights from Sydney to Jakarta and introduce three new flights from Perth to Jakarta beginning on Oct. 29.

"In total we will have 29 flights to Indonesia, meaning that Qantas can operate daily services between Sydney and Jakarta, with connections linking Melbourne and Brisbane to the services," he said, adding that the additional services will be based on the amendment of the Indonesia-Australia air agreement of last April.

He said that Indonesia is so far the second largest provider of visitors to Western Australia, one of the primary tourist destinations on the continent.

"We will operate Boeing B767-300 ER aircraft in the new route which feature new 50-inch-seat pitch and in-seat videos in the business class," Collins said of the new Perth-Jakarta route.

The 75-year-old Qantas, which is partly owned by British Airways, has been flying to Indonesia since the 1940s. Qantas will also serve Indonesian food supplied by PT Aerowisata, a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia.

Meanwhile, manager of the Australian Tourist Commission in Indonesia, Anthonius Thedy, said yesterday that the new services will hopefully increase the number of Indonesian tourists visiting Australia.

"So far the ratio is 3:1, meaning that there are three Australians visiting Indonesia but only one Indonesian visiting Australia," he said.

He said the number of Indonesians visiting Australia increased steadily from 45,900 in 1992 to 71.871 in 1993 and to 105,591 last year, while in the first five months of this year the number reached 52,000.

Data from the Ministry of Tourism, Post and Telecommunications show that Australia is the fourth largest tourist market for Indonesia, following Singapore, Japan, Malaysia and Taiwan. Roughly 287,850 Australian visitors came to Indonesia in 1993 and 305,209 in 1994.

Two Indonesian air carriers, Sempati Air and Garuda Indonesia, serve Australia 26 times per week. (icn)