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)