Sempati, SilkAir link Lombok-S'pore
Sempati, SilkAir link Lombok-S'pore
JAKARTA (JP): One more airport in Indonesia now handles international services, promising a greater number of foreign visitors to the country, bringing in foreign exchange revenues.
Sempati Air, one of Indonesia's private air carriers, in cooperation with SilkAir of Singapore, launched yesterday the first service linking Singapore and Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. The service uses Fokker-70 aircraft.
The two airlines, based on an agreement signed on March 1, serve the routes four times weekly, every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
Lombok is one of the country's islands offering various tourist attractions, including white sand beaches. Most air transportations to the island are stop-over services via Denpasar, Bali.
In the first phase of the new straight through service, which is marketed in Europe, the United States and northern Asia, SilkAir operates Fokker-70s with 78 seats.
Indonesia and Singapore agreed last September to expand air services. Based on the agreement, Indonesia has additional rights for commercial flights between Singapore and Indonesia, while Singapore has the right to fly through Indonesia to Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific countries and North America. Two more Indonesian airlines Bouraq and Mandala, which mainly serve domestic destinations, will soon serve flights to and from Singapore.
In addition to its sister company Singapore Airlines, SilkAir has the right to serve Indonesia as well. SilkAir currently links Singapore with Medan in North Sumatra (seven times per week), Manado in North Sulawesi (two times per week) and Jakarta (21 times per week). SilkAir's other services include thrice weekly flights to Pekanbaru, Riau, and Padang, West Sumatra.
Sempati, which operates one Fokker-70, five Fokker-27s, seven Fokker-100s, six Boeing-737-200s and three Airbus-300-B4s, currently serves several overseas destinations, including Kuala Lumpur and Penang in Malaysia, Singapore, Taipei, Taiwan, Perth, Australia and Christmas Island. (icn)