Indonesia adds more slots to Korea next year
Nurfika Osman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Business | Tue, July 10 2012, 6:13 PM
The Transportation Ministry would increase the Jakarta-Seoul slots to 23 flights per week starting March 2013 due to strong demand from the market, an official said Tuesday.
The ministry's air transportation director, Djoko Murjatmodjo, said the governments of South Korea and Indonesia had signed a bilateral air agreement to increase flight services connecting Soekarno-Hatta International Airport and Incheon International Airport.
The agreement was signed on June 28 in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, he said.
"This is a reciprocal agreement in aviation where both parties agree to increase their [flight] quotas due to strong demand from both markets," Djoko told reporters in Jakarta.
Currently the regulator provides 10 slots for local operators to fly to Seoul.
So far, flag carrier Garuda Indonesia uses those slots with a daily flight. "Only Korean Air is fully using its rights to fly 10 times to Jakarta," Djoko said.
In addition, he said the agreement would allow 23 slots for the Korean government to fly to Jakarta next year.
He said privately owned airlines Batavia Air, Indonesia AirAsia and Lion Air had expressed their respective interest to also ply the Jakarta-Seoul route starting in 2013. (nvn)
