RI to limit acces to foreign budget airlines
RI to limit acces to foreign budget airlines
Agence France-Presse, Jakarta
Indonesia is to impose new restrictions on foreign budget airlines flying to key cities such as Jakarta and Bali to protect its own operators in the face of fierce competition, reports said on Wednesday.
Minister of Transportation Hatta Radjasa said the new regulations would remain in place until Indonesia had resolved disputes with other national aviation authorities over the booming low-cost air industry in the region.
"We issue the decision this year and it will be valid until we have new agreements with foreign countries applying the low-cost carrier concept to fly to and from Indonesia," he said, according to the state Antara news agency.
Hatta said the government would close off airports in four cities -- Jakarta, Medan in North Sumatra, Surabaya and Denpasar -- to further budget flights by foreign operators.
He said the government would also temporarily bar foreign low- cost carriers and foreign scheduled flights from landing at Yogyakarta and Semarang, Central Java.
The announcement follows the scrapping by fledgling Indonesian budget carrier AWAIR -- an affiliate of Malaysia's AirAsia -- of a planned Singapore route after aviation officials there complained about Jakarta's restrictions.
Singapore said it had refused access to AWAIR because of Indonesia's new regulations but the airline accused the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore of using it as a bargaining chip to protect its own low-cost carriers.
Hatta said AWAIR's failure to get landing rights in Singapore was partly attributed to failure in talks on a bilateral air service agreement with Singapore.
"Negotiations with Singapore on Jan. 26 suffered a deadlock. We regret this and I'm not happy with this," he said.
The new regulations are likely to benefit Indonesia's own budget operators and offer breathing space to beleaguered state- run carriers Garuda Indonesia and Merpati, both badly in need of a revamp to halt a decline in profits.
Indonesia has seen an increase in the number of low-cost airlines in recent years as more of its scattered population take to the air despite poor aviation safety records in the archipelago nation.
Late last year, an MD-82 jet operated by Indonesian leading budget carrier Lion Air skidded off the runway in the central Java town of Surakarta, killing 26 people and injuring more than 100. The crash was blamed on bad weather.
The crash has not deterred the airline, which last year added 15 Boeings to its fleet and took out a lease on Jakarta's little- used airport Halim Perdanakusuma airport to set up a hub for its operations.
Meanwhile, ahead of the new restrictions, AirAsia said it planned to double its once-daily flight from Kuala Lumpur to Medan in a move its said would help raise its profile in Indonesia and meet rising demand.
"The increase in the airline's flight frequency will better introduce us to the people of Malaysia and Indonesia as a budget airline company," AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes said while launching the new service in Medan.