RI unveils open skies policy for ASEAN members
RI unveils open skies policy for ASEAN members
JAKARTA (JP): The government announced yesterday a full open
skies policy for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) eastern subregional growth area linking several
Indonesian provinces in Kalimantan and Sulawesi and the
neighboring nations of Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.
"Any airlines of the involved countries are welcome to serve
the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines Growth Area on a point-
to-point basis, not as stopovers to other overseas destinations,"
Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said in a hearing
with House Commission V for transportation and tourism.
He said that government-owned air carries from Indonesia,
Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines are invited to link
Indonesia's three major cities in the growth area -- Pontianak in
West Kalimantan, Balikpapan in East Kalimantan and Manado in
North Sulawesi -- with the major cities in the relevant provinces
in the other three participating countries.
"But the airlines are not allowed to proceed to other
destinations beyond the growth area," Haryanto said.
He said that his office recently rejected a proposal from
Brunei on flight services linking Bandar Seri Begawan and Sydney
via Balikpapan as well as Bandar Seri Begawan and Perth in
Australia via Pontianak.
"A service linking Bandar Seri Begawan, Kucing in Malaysia,
Pontianak and Balikpapan or Manado, for instance, would be
welcome." he cited. "I invite all airlines from the involved
countries to serve the growth area as frequently as they want."
In 1994 Philippine Airlines and Indonesia's Bouraq Airlines
established joint air services to link Manado and Davao in the
Philippines twice weekly with HS-748 aircraft owned by Bouraq.
Malaysia Airlines currently serves the Kucing-Pontianak route
twice a week with Fokker F-50 aircraft.
Merpati discontinued its service linking Brunei and Balikpapan
a few years ago on account of the lack of interest.
The eastern growth area of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) was formed in 1994 to boost cooperation in
tourism, industry and agriculture. It then comprised Brunei,
Sabah and Sarawak in Malaysia, East and West Kalimantan and North
Sulawesi in Indonesia and the southern Philippines.
Several months ago Indonesia proposed to expand its part in
the growth area to include Central and South Kalimantan, Central,
Southeast and South Sulawesi, Maluku and Irian Jaya in efforts to
prepare the country to face tariff-free competition from 2003
under the ASEAN Free Trade Area agreement.
The seven-nation ASEAN groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
In addition to the eastern growth area, ASEAN also has two
other subregional cooperation areas -- the Indonesia-Malaysia-
Thailand Growth Triangle and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Singapore
Growth Triangle. (icn)