Sempati thinks twice before buying N-250s

Sempati thinks twice before buying N-250s

JAKARTA (JP): Sempati Air, the biggest private scheduled
airline in Indonesia, will reconsider its plan to procure N-250
planes from PT IPTN because the aircraft manufacturer in Bandung
has never announced a fixed price for the planes.

Sempati's president, Hasan A. Soedjono, told reporters
yesterday that his airline actually had signed a letter of intent
to buy 16 N-250s.

"It's a preliminary agreement which does not mean that Sempati
is obliged to buy the aircraft," he said.

Three domestic airlines, Merpati Nusantara, a subsidiary of
Garuda Indonesia, Bouraq Airlines and Sempati signed agreements
with IPTN for the procurement of a number of 154 N-250s last
November, when the prototype of the aircraft was officially
introduced. Three other firms, including those from the United
states and Europe, have also expressed interest in purchasing
more than 30 similar aircraft.

IPTN's president, B.J Habibie, who is also the State Minister
of Research and Technology, said that the aircraft will cost
about US$13.5 million each.

"There should be a series of trial operations of the N-250,
which will influence its price. Since the fixed price has not
been set, its hard for airline companies to arrange their fleet
plans," Hasan said.

N-250 has a potential minimum flying speed of 300 knots, or
556 kilometers per hour, and a maximum speed of 330 knots, or 612
kilometers per hour, for a distance of 1,482 kilometers.

Three N-250 are scheduled to be launched later this year.

The government has poured $1.6 billion into IPTN since its
birth in 1976. The firm spent more than $500 million to develop
the N-250, including $185 million derived from the interest of
reforestation funds.

The operation of the initial airplanes will be used to obtain
air certificates from the Directorate General of Air
Transportation in July 1997 and from the Federal Aviation Agency
of the United States in December 1997. N-250 will have its maiden
flight in August 1995, when Indonesia celebrates the 50th
anniversary of its independence. Its commercial production is
expected to start in late 1997.

Promotion

Hasan also stressed that IPTN has to guarantee the technology
of the aircraft to boost its sales.

"Furthermore, the government will have to reroute the
operation of other aircraft as soon as N-250 starts to serve
certain routes to avoid competition," he said.

Meanwhile, Sempati's vice president for marketing, Permadi
Wiratanuningrat, said that his company will launch between March
20 and June 14 a special program called spectacular sandiwara, a
lucky draw offering 50 percent discount vouchers to a maximum of
four winners on each of Sempati's flights.

"Sempati has a total of 41,000 vouchers. People who win the
draw can give their vouchers to others. Each voucher is valid
until late this year," he said.

He also said that starting on April 1, people who buy business
class tickets for Jakarta-Batam-Jakarta or Jakarta-Batam-
Singapore-Jakarta routes or from other cities to Batam with a
ticket worth at least Rp 668,000 will have a complimentary one
night stay at the Melia Panorama hotel in Batam.

Sempati Air, which currently operates five Fokker-27s, seven
Fokker 100s, six Boeing 737-200s and three Airbus 300-B4s, has
recently received one Fokker-70 aircraft. The airline ordered six
Fokker 70 aircraft from the Dutch aircraft manufacturer Fokker
Aircraft Services.(icn)