RI plans to renew air service agreement with Malaysia

The Indonesian government is planning to renew a flight partnership agreement with Malaysia, the Transportation Ministry says.

”We have an air service agreement signed by the [transportation] minister in 2003. In 2009 there were talks but no signatures. Then, in 2010, there was a leaders’ meeting between President SBY and the Malaysian minister, which discussed a need to improve Indonesia-Malysia traffic,” air transportation director general Herry Bakti Singayudha Gumay said in Jakarta on Wednesday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

According to reports, the government plans to give Malaysia a 5th Right of Freedom by allowing Malaysian airlines to take passengers from three Indonesian airports — Soekarno-Hatta in Tangerang, Banten, Sultan Hasanuddin in Makassar and Ngurah Rai in Denpasar — seven times a week.

In return, Malaysia will allow Indonesian airlines to take passengers from three Malaysian airports — Kuala Lumpur, Kinabalu and Kuching — to a third country in Asia, Europe or the Middle East for a set number of times each week.