Seulawah, Star Air set up flight alliance

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Domestic airline start-ups Seulawah Nad Air and Star Air signed a cooperation agreement on Tuesday in a bid to avert head- on competition.

Under the agreement, which was signed by Seulawah president M. Soeparno and Star president Ale Sugiarto, the two airlines would not serve the same routes.

Seulawah agreed to drop the Jakarta to Medan route, allowing Star to serve it, said media releases from the two airlines.

The agreement will be effective as of Feb. 18.

The Jakarta to Medan route is one of the busiest domestic routes, but very competitive.

In addition to the above route, Seulawah also serves the Jakarta to Banda Aceh and Medan to Banda Aceh routes. Meanwhile, Star serves Jakarta to Medan, Jakarta to Surabaya, Jakarta to Balikpapan and Jakarta to Pekanbaru routes.

Both Seulawah and Star Air use Boeing 737-200 aircraft, with a 118-seat capacity for Star and 117 for Seulawah.

Although Banda Aceh-based Seulawah has had to drop the Jakarta to Medan route, the company hopes to benefit from selling Star Air routes to its passengers and vice versa.

For example, a person from Banda Aceh who wishes to fly to Surabaya may buy a Seulawah ticket. The passenger would board a Seulawah aircraft to Jakarta and, after arrival, could continue the journey on a Star flight without having to arrange a new ticket.

This is common practice in the world's airline industry, where the ticket is referred to as being "endorsable", meaning that each airline can sell tickets to passengers for any route belonging to either company.