Sempati Air records higher sales last year
Sempati Air records higher sales last year
JAKARTA (JP): Private air carrier Sempati Air booked Rp 753
billion (US$313.75 million) in sales last year, up 15 percent
from 1995.
Sempati's new president Santun Nainggolan said Sempati sold
3.3 million tickets last year and hoped to sell 3.6 million
tickets this year.
He said the company's report was being audited so refused to
give details of Sempati's financial structure.
Late last year Indonesia's only rating agency Pefindo said it
was reviewing the airline's rating because of worsening
liquidity.
Nainggolan said Sempati, which delayed its plan to list on the
Jakarta Stock Exchange last year for unknown reasons, was
restructuring all business units to improve performance.
"For instance, we are improving our services, both at airports
and on flights because we understand that this is a service
oriented business," he said.
He said Sempati had also launched an internal consolidation
measure.
"We plan to set up an Information Technology center to boost
Sempati's reservation, ticket distribution and data processing
systems," he said.
He said Sempati's 0-800-21-612 toll free telephone service
between 6pm and 6am was part of its efforts to improve service.
Sempati was set up in 1968 and began scheduled commercial
flights in 1990. The company's current shareholders include the
Humpuss Group of Hutomo Mandala Putra, President Soeharto's
youngest son, armed forces holding company PT Tri Usaha Bhakti,
Malaysian-Indonesian joint venture Asean Aviation Inc. and timber
tycoon Mohammad (Bob) Hasan, one of the President's closest
friends.
The 43-year-old Nainggolan was appointed president last
December to replace Hasan M. Soedjono. Hasan had said Sempati was
strengthening its internal auditing system as one of its internal
consolidation actions.
"Please don't see that we are going to look for someone's
weakness, this is just a matter of better systems and procedures.
We are not looking at what happened in the past," he said.
He said Sempati's debt equity ratio was 4 percent.
"Sempati's current assets total about Rp 1 trillion with
capital and debts amounting to Rp 210 billion and Rp 800 billion
respectively," he said.
Fleets
Sempati, one of Indonesia's six scheduled airlines, operates
25 aircraft, five Fokker F-27s, seven F-100s, seven Boeing B-737-
200s, two F-70s and four Airbus A-300-B4s.
"We plan to replace the aging F-27s with new narrow-body
aircraft. It would be ideal for Sempati to have 17 narrow-body
aircraft in operation," Nainggolan said.
Sempati director of commerce Arie J.J. Toelle said Sempati was
interested in operating Boeing aircraft in its new narrow-body
fleet.
Toelle said Sempati, which serves 38 destinations in Indonesia
and six foreign cities was looking at flying to Jeddah.
"We are waiting for government approval," he said.
Besides Sempati, the state-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines is
also looking at flying between Jakarta and Jeddah which is one of
the most profitable routes. Only national flag carrier Garuda
Indonesia serves this route now with three flights a week.
Talking about Sempati's initial public offering plan,
Nainggolan said Sempati was unlikely to go public this year. "It
looks like we will launch the initial public offering plan by
1998."
He said Sempati had strategic plans "which I can't tell you as
it's too premature."
He said Singapore Airlines was interested in joining Sempati's
private placement plan, but said Sempati was not ready for such a
partnership. (icn)