U.S. airlines delay RI service again

U.S. airlines delay RI service again

JAKARTA (JP): Two U.S. air carriers, United Airlines and
Northwest Airlines, have again delayed services to Indonesia due
to the unsettled aviation dispute between Japan and the United
States.

Ibnu Tryono, a senior manager and head of marketing of PT
Baptista Cargo & Trans. Co, the general sales agent of Northwest,
told The Jakarta Post yesterday that Northwest expects to start
its service to Jakarta on Dec. 1 after a second delay.

Northwest originally planned to start serving a Seattle-Osaka-
Jakarta route on July 1 but had to delay the planned inaugural
service until Oct. 1 because Japan refused to permit it intra-
Asia traffic rights.

Because Japan and the United States thus far have not solved
their air dispute, Northwest has had to delay again its plan to
enter Indonesia.

The unsettled dispute has also prevented United Airlines from
currently linking San Francisco and Jakarta via Osaka, Japan. The
air carrier originally planned to begin the service later this
month.

Pele Sudijaya, a manager of PT Samudra Indonesia Dirgantara
Services, the sole agent of United Airlines, told the Post
yesterday that United Airlines has not received clearance from
Japan for its planned stopover in Osaka.

"We are still waiting for further notification," he said.

United Airlines plans to serve the San Francisco-Osaka-Jakarta
route three times per week by operating Boeing B-747-200
aircraft, while Northwest plans to link Seattle in the United
Sates and Jakarta via Osaka also three times per week with a DC-
10 jet.

United Airlines currently serves a San Francisco-Osaka route
seven times per week while Northwest serves Seattle-Osaka four
times per week.

Tryono and Sudijaya said that the Indonesian government had
approved both Northwest and United Airlines to link the United
States and Indonesia via Osaka.

Due to the delay in July, Northwest Airlines diverted some
6,000 passengers planning to leave Jakarta for the United States
through Osaka to state-owned Garuda Indonesia and a Japanese
airline. (icn)