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tate-owned postal firm PT Pos Indonesia plans to team up with domestic carrier PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines (Merpati) this year to help expand its business in the logistics sector.

Pos Indonesia president director I Ketut Mardjana said the collaboration was expected to begin in April.

“We are currently improving our business plan to boost the logistics service. In the initial phase, we expect to enter eastern parts of Indonesia because the logistics sector is growing there,” Mardjana told The Jakarta Post.

He said that the postal company planned to enter logistics delivery markets in eastern Indonesia such as in Maluku and Nusa Tenggara through Makassar, South Sulawesi.

“After that, we will gradually enter western Indonesia. We believe we can cover the national market because Pos Indonesia has very strong networks and loyal customers,” he said.

He said that the firm had some 2,200 properties across the archipelago and some of them had been transformed into warehouses for its logistics business.

Through the collaboration, he said that the firm expected to increase revenues from logistics services to Rp 450 billion (US$46.35 million) this year, up from Rp 60 billion in 2012.

The firm became involved in the sector through its subsidiary PT Pos Logistik Indonesia in March last year.

Separately, Merpati president director Rudy Setyopurnomo said the firm would supply 20 units of Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft worth $50 million to boost cargo transportation.

The first aircraft is scheduled to arrive in April.

“The plane is able to carry around six to eight tons of cargo a day. This will not only help distribute consumer goods to customers but also develop economic growth in areas that we are going to enter,” Rudy said.

He said that Merpati planned to take delivery of the planes until 2014.

The Cessna is a turboprop aircraft that cruises at speeds of up to 341 kilometers per hour and is designed to land on short runways, reaching far-away customers.

“We are going to operate two planes in one hub in the future so that we can better penetrate the market,” he said.

Besides Makassar, he said the planes would be operated from major cities including Medan, North Sumatra; Palembang, South Sumatra and Pontianak, West Kalimantan.

The planes will later fly to second and third tier cities in the respective regions.

Moreover, Mardjana said that PT Pos had allocated Rp 350 billion in investment to acquire a logistics company this year to boost business.

He said the firm was currently conducting a feasibility study with a consultant before making a final decision.

“We plan to acquire a company that has networks in Singapore, Malaysia and China,” he said.

In total, he said that Pos Indonesia had allocated almost Rp 1 trillion this year to help improve its sales in the mail service, package, logistics, financial transactions, retail and property sectors.