SilkAir serves S'pore-Solo

YOGYAKARTA (JP): SilkAir, one of two Singaporean airlines, has started service linking the island republic and Solo in Central Java with Boeing 737 aircraft.

"The new service is meant to introduce the Singaporean market to new destinations and this year we consider Solo as a new destination for scheduled service," the carrier's commercial manager, Balbir Singh, told reporters here over the weekend.

He said that for the time being, SilkAir operates five services every Thursday on a chartered basis. "But we will serve regular flights early next year when we are ready," he said.

Indonesia and Singapore signed in September an agreement allowing Singapore Airlines and SilkAir to fly directly to nine more cities in Indonesia. The two airlines so far serve 10 Indonesian cities -- Denpasar, Medan, Surabaya, Manado, Padang, Pekanbaru, Pontianak, Ambon, Biak and Jakarta.

The two Singaporean airlines will firstly require only three additional cities -- Solo, Mataram in West Nusa Tenggara and Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi.

Indonesia, in turn, will be allowed to assign two more airlines, Mandala and Bouraq, to transport passengers between the two countries, in addition to the three airlines, Garuda, Merpati and Sempati, which currently hold those routes.(mun/icn)