SIA to increase its flights to Indonesia

SIA to increase its flights to Indonesia

JAKARTA (JP): Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its subsidiary
SilkAir will expand their services to Indonesia in October.

SIA's general manager in Indonesia, Paul Tan, said yesterday
that the frequency of the Singapore-Surabaya service would be
increased from seven to 10 flights per week and the Singapore-
Denpasar service would be increased from 14 to 21 flights per
week, beginning on either Oct. 28 or Oct. 29.

He also said that SilkAir would commence direct flights
linking Singapore and Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi three times
per week within the next three months, using Fokker-70 planes.

SIA's assistant director of corporate affairs, Karm Jit Singh,
told The Jakarta Post after attending a ceremony for the signing
of a joint hotel project between SIA, the Keppel Group of
Singapore and Indonesia's Salim Group yesterday that the service
expansion was one of the measures being pursued by Singapore and
Indonesia by way of follow-up to the recent agreement between the
two countries on boosting cooperation in air transport, tourism
and other sectors.

In addition to the services to Surabaya and Denpasar, SIA
currently also serves Jakarta seven times per day, while SilkAir
currently serves Jakarta (three times per day), Surakarta in
Central Java (three times per week), Medan in North Sumatra (six
times per week), Padang in West Sumatra (three times per week),
Pekanbaru in Riau (three times per week), Mataram in West Nusa
Tenggara (four times per week) and Manado in North Sulawesi (two
times per week).

On Sept. 29 last year Indonesia and Singapore signed a tourism
cooperation accord, under which SilkAir was required to begin
services to four Indonesian cities -- Padang, Mataram,
Pekanbaru and Surakarta -- within six months' of the date of
the agreement.

In serving Mataram, Surakarta and Ujungpandang, SilkAir is
working with three Indonesian airlines: respectively, Sempati
Air, Merpati Nusantara and Bouraq Airlines.

According to Tan, SIA has so far won a 38 percent market share
of Singapore-Indonesia air transport services. "Indonesia is one
of SIA's 10 major markets, which include Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong
and Thailand," he added.

Indonesia and Singapore agreed last month to form a joint
marketing board which will study tourism issues. The two
countries plan to cooperate for their mutual benefit -- Indonesia
benefiting from its tourist industry and Singapore from its
capital resources. (icn)