T

he governments of Indonesia and Australia are set to renew a bilateral air service agreement in February 2013, allowing carriers from both nations to increase the frequency of connections between the two countries.

The Transportation Ministry’s air transportation director general, Herry Bhakti Gumay, said the agreement would provide an additional 25,000 seats per week for flights between Indonesian and Australian destinations starting next year.

“This agreement is going to have a huge impact for both Indonesia and Australia in the future, not only in the aviation industry, but also in tourism and trade sectors as we provide more slots for airlines,” Herry said in Jakarta on Tuesday at the ceremony held to mark the signing of the Indonesia–Australia memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in the transport sector.

“This additional service is an 80 percent increase from our existing capacity, giving a lot of room for airlines [from Indonesia and Australia] to tap into the opportunity,” he said.

Currently, air slots between the two countries stood at 31,250 seats per week, and were mostly used by national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, Australian Qantas Airways, Jetstar and Pacific Blue, in addition to several chartered carriers, he said.

He predicted that tourism was going to be the sector that enjoyed the largest benefits from the new agreement.

“Australians love exotic destinations like Bali and East Nusa Tenggara. Next year, we are going to host Sail Komodo, and I do believe more Australians are going to visit our country for that event,” he said.

According to recent data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 752,959 tourists from Down Under visited Indonesia in the first 10 months of 2012, up from 739,044 in the same period last year.

In addition, he said that more Indonesian carriers, such as Batik Air, a subsidiary of the country’s largest low-cost airline Lion Air, and Citilink Indonesia, plan to fly to Australia.

Garuda Indonesia has recently announced that it will fly to Brisbane in 2013. Apart from Australia, Indonesia is going to renew bilateral air service agreements with Middle Eastern countries as well as with Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea immediately.

The new air service agreement with Singapore, for example, was expected to be signed in the end of December, he said.

Moreover, Australian Infrastructure and Transportation Minister Anthony Albanese said that the MoU signed on Tuesday was a testament to the strength of both nations’ relationship. He said Indonesia was one of Australia’s closest and most important neighbors, with transportation serving as a key enabler of economic growth and development between the two countries and the Asia-Pacific region.