Riau Arlines halts flights to Jakarta

Riau Airlines (RAL), one of regional players in the country’s aviation industry, has terminated its Pekanbaru-Jakarta route, citing continual losses as a result of the tight competition.
 
"Our Pekanbaru-Jakarta route has been closed since January 6, 2010," the company's spokesman, Teguh Trianto, told Antara on Saturday.

RAL launched its Pekanbaru-Jakarta route in December 2008 when Samudra Sukardi, a brother of former state enterprises minister Laksamana Sukardi, was its president director.

For its future business, Teguh said RAL would focus on its commercial flight services in Sumatra. The company recently opened a new route to Jambi and will fly to Palembang in the near future.
 
RAL fleet now comprises two RJ-100 and five Fokker-50 planes.
 
Teguh said the company might resume flights to Jakarta when it could buy big airplanes.