Sempati closes dozens of regional routes and offices
Sempati closes dozens of regional routes and offices
JAKARTA (JP): Private airline PT Sempati Air will terminate 14
domestic and regional routes and 15 representative offices
beginning on Sept. 1 as part of the company's restructuring plan.
Sempati's spokesman Riza Iskandar told The Jakarta Post here
yesterday the flight terminations would continue until the
airline showed improvement.
"We are still preparing the new fleet plan," he said.
Sempati is one of the country's six scheduled airlines. The
airline is currently on a major restructuring plan which will
also cut the number of its employees.
The airline operates 25 aircraft, five Fokker F-27s, seven F-
100s, seven Boeing B-737-200s, two F-70s and four Airbus A-300-
B4s.
The company planned to order 10 United States-made Beechcraft
passenger aircraft but the proposal to use the airplanes was
turned down by the government.
In the meantime, Sempati can not operate its five Fokker-27s
after the government temporarily banned the aircraft from flying
following an accident last month.
Company president Santun Nainggolan said recently that Sempati
was expected "to return" to its core business and improve
performance ahead of its plan to go public next year.
The airline delayed its plan to float shares on the Jakarta
Stock Exchange last year for unknown reasons.
Iskandar said that beginning Sept. 1, Sempati would stop
routes from and to Ampenan (West Nusa Tenggara), Ambon (Maluku),
Bandung (West Java), Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan), Dili (East
Timor), Kendari (Southeast Sulawesi), Kupang (East Nusa
Tenggara), Padang (West Sumatra), Palangkaraya (Central
Kalimantan), Semarang (Central Java) and Tarakan (East
Kalimantan).
"Flights to and from Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia will
also stop by the end of August, while service to Taipei in Taiwan
was halted earlier this month."
Sempati will continue services to 15 other destinations but
close its offices in Denpasar (Bali), Surabaya (East Java), Batam
(Riau), Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Jayapura and Timika (Irian
Jaya), Yogyakarta, Manado (South Sulawesi), Pekanbaru (Riau),
Surabaya (East Java), Surakarta (Central Java), Ujungpandang
(South Sulawesi), Medan (North Sumatra), Singapore and Perth.
Ticket sales in the cities have been handed over to local
sales agents, he added.
Sempati booked Rp 753 billion in sales last year, up 15
percent from 1995. Recently, the rating agency Pefindo said late
last year it was reviewing the airline's rating outlook because
of worsening liquidity.
Sempati was established 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 company's current assets are estimated to reach Rp 1
trillion (US$357 million) with debts reaching Rp 600 billion,
partly to the state-owned Pertamina for unpaid aviation fuels.
(icn)