DAVID FULLBROOK / JAKARTA
Indonesia's vibrant airline industry is shrugging off the Bali bombings with at least two carriers planning to add aircraft and routes by the middle of next year.
Medan-based domestic carrier Jatayu Airlines will lease its fourth Boeing 727-200 and fourth 737-200 before January. Negotiations with lessors are continuing, says a senior airline source. Another four 727s or 737s will arrive next year, and two or three Boeing 757s or widebodies such as 767s are planned, he adds.
The airline will add domestic flights this month and in December thrice-weekly services from Medan to Alor Setar and Ipoh in Malaysia will begin. Services to China, Singapore and Thailand are also planned.
Meanwhile, Jakarta-based cargo and charter carrier Blue Sky is planning in January to start 737-200/500 flights between East Timor and Singapore with a Timorese carrier's traffic rights, says marketing director Capt Idris Handaja.
Twice-weekly charters to the Middle East via Cambodia using Air Cambodia's traffic rights should begin by the middle of next year with two 767-300ERs or 757-200s, says Idris. Aircraft will be based in Phnom Penh, and will also operate to Beijing, Guangzhou and Manila on behalf of the Cambodian carrier.
A twice-weekly cargo service to Guangzhou via Singapore from Jakarta using a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 freighter or an Antonov An-74 combi is planned, and scheduled passenger services using 737-500s or -800s.
Source: Flight International
