Turkish Airlines serves Jakarta
Turkish Airlines serves Jakarta
JAKARTA (JP): Turkish Airlines's maiden flight to Jakarta, an
Airbus A340 carrying 105 passengers from Istanbul via Bangkok and
Singapore, landed yesterday at Soekarno-Hatta International
Airport.
Turkish Airlines now serves Istanbul-Jakarta, via Bangkok and
Singapore, and Jakarta-Istanbul twice a week, said Lany Sukardi,
director of PT Angkasa Cahaya Cemerlang, the airline's general
sales agent, here yesterday.
"There were 42 passengers on board, two of them Indonesians,
originating from Istanbul on the inaugural flight to Jakarta.
Another 12 passengers were on the return flight to Istanbul," she
said.
She said that flights would arrive in Jakarta on Mondays and
Fridays at 4:30 p.m. and leave for Istanbul at 6:40 p.m. on the
same day.
Istanbul-Jakarta traveling time is just over 15 hours, with
nine hours and 30 minutes for the Istanbul-Bangkok leg, three
hours for the Bangkok-Singapore leg and one hour and 30 minutes
for the Singapore-Jakarta leg, and some two hours transit time in
Bangkok and Singapore, she said.
"To cut the traveling time, within the next two months, the
stopovers will be cut to just Singapore," she said, adding that
her company expected businesspeople, tourists and pilgrims from
Indonesia to use the airline.
Turkish Airlines is a state-owned air carrier which was set up
in 1933. With a fleet of 65 aircraft, the company offers services
to 29 cities in Turkey and 63 international destinations.
Overseas air carriers are encouraged to fly to Indonesia as
the country relies increasingly on international tourists for
foreign exchange earnings.
Indonesia has designated 23 airports as international gateways
into the archipelago.
The government has set a target of 9.26 million in annual
seating capacity of international air flights serving the country
in 1997 to support a target of some 5.5 million foreign tourist
arrivals this year.
Indonesia is presently served by six domestic air carriers and
42 foreign airlines of more than 13 nations with 16.2 million in
annual seating capacity.
Out of the capacity, some 1.85 million seats are for European
services and some 6.45 million for Asia-Pacific, Australia and
Indonesia's major tourist markets.
A number of foreign airlines such as Northwest and United
Airlines of the United States, Lauda Air of Austria have
expressed interests to open routes into the country. But they
have yet to start services. (icn)