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)