Singapore Airlines receives fourth Airbus jet

Toulouse (ANTARA News) - Singapore Airlines Ltd. has taken delivery of its fourth Airbus A380 plane, the world's biggest passenger jet, which left Toulouse, France, on Saturday, Airbus said.

The aircraft, delivered "on time," will service the first commercial link between Singapore and Tokyo, and is due to start flying the route on May 20, management told AFP.

The three giant airships already in the skies service London and Sydney flights.

As with the existing craft, Singapore Airlines has restricted its 853 capacity to seating for 471 passengers, including 12 suites with full beds.

The first A380 jet arrived in Singapore a year and a half late, in October 2007, after it was delayed by problems including electrical wiring glitches.

It launched the first commercial flight from Singapore to Sydney later that month.

A second delivery took place on Jan. 11 with the third at the start of March.

Two more from among 19 ordered are due to be delivered by the summer.

Singapore Airlines is the first and only airline in the world to operate the double-deck airbus.

Cessna plane crash-lands at Taman Mini

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 04/26/2008 2:50 PM

A Cessna plane crash-landed at the Taman Mini Indonesia Indah Recreational Park in East Jakarta late Saturday morning after its engine reportedly ceased working midair.

According to Metro TV, the training plane, owned by Alpha Flying Club aviation school, crashed into a parking lot behind the Purna Bhakti Pertiwi Museum not long after taking off from the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport.

The pilot was reportedly unhurt but is said to have suffered from shock.

Arif Hidayat, 31, is currently undergoing treatment at the Halim Perdanakusuma Indonesian Air Force Hospital.

Motorcycle ownership jumps 125 percent in seven years

Ika Krismantari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 04/23/2008 1:07 AM

Traffic, fuel prices, loan availability and advertising have all played a role in boosting motorcycle ownership by 125 percent in the past seven years, a survey has found.

The survey by Nielsen Media Research Indonesia shows motorcycle ownership jumped from 10.5 million in 2000 to 23.7 million by the end of last year.

Nielsen associate producer Ika Jatmikasari told reporters Tuesday the trend of motorcycle ownership was also steadily increasing as car users have turned to motorcycles to deal with increasing rush-hour congestion in major cities.

"This is also partly due to flexibility offered to the public by leasing companies. Now, with only Rp 500,000 (US$54), you can bring home a motorcycle," Ika said.

In the first quarter of this year, 59 percent of the population in nine big cities in Indonesia, some 25 million people, used motorcycles as their means of transportation.

Cities with the biggest increase in motorcycle ownership include Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi with a 36.5 percent increase since 2005, while Jakarta, Bandung, Palembang and Makassar jumped by more than 30 percent in four years.

Bali capital Denpasar was found to be the city with the most motorcycles per capita, followed by Java cities Yogyakarta, Sleman, Bantul, Surabaya and Semarang.

The common assumption that the majority of motorcycles are owned by the middle class is shown to be incorrect in the survey, which says motorcycle ownership has increased in all economic classes, particularly among those in the highest monthly spending bracket of more than Rp 3.5 million.

Motorcycles are owned by 85 percent of those in the top spending bracket, 77 percent in the Rp 1.75 million to Rp 2.50 million spending bracket, 60 percent in the Rp 900,000 to Rp 1.25 million bracket and about 43 percent in the Rp 600,000 to Rp 900,000 bracket.

"This trend is expected to continue in the future as fuel prices increase and people realize it is cheaper to use motorcycles than cars for daily activities," Ika said.

Nielsen also shows motorcycle manufacturers' spending on advertising jumped 900 percent from Rp 145 billion in 2000 to Rp 1.46 trillion in 2007.

The year-on-year figures within the period consistently increased, with newspaper ads slightly higher than television.

Honda is the market leader and the biggest spender, accounting for 63 percent of the total spending in 2007, while Yamaha is second at 30 percent, followed by Suzuki, Vespa and Kawasaki at 20 percent, 4 percent and 2 percent.

The data for advertising spending was calculated based on gross commercial rate excluding discounts and promotions.

Garuda to fly Jakarta to Pontianak three times per day

Pontianak, West Kalimantan (ANTARA News) - Garuda Indonesia will fly from Jakarta to Pontianak three times a day to cater to rising demand for air services.

"The load factor of the route has reached an average of 85 percent since we resumed it late October 2007," Garuda district manager Wempie Ohoiwutun said on Sunday.

The national flag carrier now serves the route once per day.

He said Garuda had filed an application to the operator of Supadio Airport in Pontianak for an increase in the number of its flights from Jakarta to Pontianak or vice versa.

West Kalimantan had large potentials for air transport business, he said. "Many big businessmen in Jakarta and other major cities in Indonesia come from West Kalimantan," he said.

He expressed optimism Garuda would be able to compete with other airlines which offered low-cost flights.

Lion Air to open Singapore-Bali route

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The largest private airline company in Indonesia, Lion Air, is planning to open a route linking Singapore with Bali in the near future, the airline`s corporate secretary, Hasyim Arsal Alhabsi, said.

"We are planning to serve the route beginning next June or July after today`s opening of a Jakarta-Singapore-Vietnam route," Alhabsi said here on Friday.

He said the route would be opened in order to offer Singaporean tourists comfortable direct flights to the Indonesian resort island of Bali.

Alhasbi said his company would serve the Singapore-Bali route with newest Boeing 737-900ER airliners which were expected to arrive in Indonesia on April 28, 2008.

"This plan is being made in line with the government`s Visit Indonesia Year (VIY) 2008 program," he said.

He said at the initial stage, the flight frequency on the Singapore-Bali route would be once a day with an average load factor target of 75 percent.

The opening of the new route was also expected to support the newly opened Jakarta-Singaore-Vietnam route.

"So, passengers bound for Vietnam can take a flight from Jakarta or from Denpasar (Bali)," he said.

In connection with the opening of the Jakarta-Singapore-Vietnam route, Lion Air had flown 30 travel agents from Vietnam to Bali to make a direct observation of the Indonesian tourist island.

Alhabsi expressed hope that the Ministry of Transportation would give priority to domestic airlines in granting additional flight frequencies rather than to foreign ones.

The Ministry of Transportation has previously granted Singapore Airlines additional flight frequencies from four to seven flights daily for Singapore Airlines.

The granting of the additional flight frequencies was aimed at making the Indonesia Visit Year 2008 a success. During the VIY 2008 it is expected that seven million foreign tourists would arrive in Indonesia.

The decision to grant additional flight frequencies was reached in a coordinative meeting led by Vice President Jusuf Kalla with Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal and Tourism and Culture Minister Jero Wacik.

Maintenance testing for public transit up in smoke

Mustaqim Adamrah, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 04/12/2008 11:17 AM

City officials have failed to enforce the roadworthiness test for Jakarta's often-smokey public transportation vehicles, Deputy Governor Prijanto said Friday.

He said public transportation entrepreneurs often tried to cheat the system by temporarily replacing their defective auto parts "only to pass the test".

"Public transportation owners often replace their faulty auto parts that are being subjected to the test with others that are still in good shape," he said at City Hall.

"But they will soon return their faulty parts after they pass the test and receive their certificates. That's why we can still see thick, black smoke fuming from public transportation," he said.

Prijanto's comments came in the wake a recent finding by the Roadworthiness Test Center in Pulo Gadung, East Jakarta. The center is privately run but appointed by the city administration to conduct the test.

On Thursday, the center revealed that only 73,811 public transportation vehicles out of the 88,000 traveling in the city have passed the test recently.

The head of the center, Lukman Iskandar, said the center's records showed there were 6,012 vehicles that had not undergone the test.

Among the 6,012 vehicles, city-owned PPD buses accounted for 1,982 and Steady Safe made up 608, Lukman said, as quoted by Beritajakarta.com.

Critics have said the test has been corrupted by officials collecting illegal fees, while public transportation owners engage in bribery.

According to a 1999 ordinance on city fees and taxes, public transportation owners have to pay Rp 78,500 (US$8.54) for the mandatory test, which must be taken every six months.

The test comprises of eight aspects, including tire shape and pressure, lamps, the condition of the brakes, engine, windows and windshield and emission quality.

Prijanto said he had called on the city transportation agency to be stricter in enforcing the law.

"I have asked them to be tough on this matter. Vehicles found defective must be garaged," he said.

Riza Hashim, the head of the traffic and public transportation management department at the agency, said staff shortages had been the cause of poor enforcement.

"There are only 616 agency officials. And they are deployed to manage the busway system and illegal parking," Riza said.

"None of them have focused on the roadworthiness test for public transportation," he said.

Riza said the agency's officials still enforced the bylaw by seizing public vehicles found traveling around the city without their certificates.

Meanwhile, the secretary of Commission B on Economic Affairs at the City Council, Nurmansjah Lubis, said he was concerned about the agency's inability to enforce the bylaw.

"It's ironic if the agency has no strong commitment to enforce the law," he said.

"It's so obvious that public vehicles continue to emit black fumes," he said. "The agency should have revoked their operating licenses for failing the test."

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City's bad air take residents' breath away

PT KA to add trains to two lines

Tifa Asrianti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 04/12/2008 11:17 AM

State-owned railway company PT Kereta Api (PT KA) will increase the frequency of electric trains running between Jakarta and Bekasi in West Java and Serpong in Banten, an official said Friday.

As part of the plan, the company has ordered new air-conditioned cars from Japan.

"We will have 16 cars coming from Japan in June or July to add to our air-conditioned economy trains," PT KA Jakarta spokesman Akhmad Sujadi said.

He said the additional cars would allow the company to run 12 trains daily to both Bekasi and Serpong.

There are currently six to eight daily trains on those lines.

PT KA plans to replace all non-AC economy carriages with AC economy carriages by 2010. Once the conversion is complete, the cheapest fare for Greater Jakarta passengers will be Rp 6,000 (63 US cents). The current ticket price for non-AC lines is Rp 2,000.

PT KA runs AC economy trains between Jakarta and Bekasi, Serpong, Depok and Bogor.

Akhmad said PT KA was optimistic passengers would gradually shift to AC trains because the price was reasonable.

"The train routes are longer than most buses," he said.

"We've seen a shift in passenger preference. The AC trains used to have only 10 percent of total passengers, but now it has 20 percent. That's a significant increase," Akhmad said.

In 2007, the railway company served 118 million passengers or an average of 380,000 passengers per day, excluding Sundays. Of these, 60 percent traveled on the Bogor line, 26 percent on the Bekasi line, 11 percent on the Serpong line and 3 percent on the Tangerang line.

"This year, we aim to get 120 million passengers and we expect to be serving 1.5 million passengers per day by 2014 (about 4.7 million a year without Sundays)," he said.

PT KA will continue to provide a non-AC train for Bogor fruit vendors who commute to Jakarta early in the morning.

"They may not feel comfortable carrying their produce on AC trains. We'll accommodate their needs," he said.

According to Akhmad, the revitalization is in line with safety improvement programs.

"The air-conditioned cars can be closed. There is a guard to secure the carriage doors and passengers can sit comfortably," he said, adding people often broke the doors of non-AC trains.

The AC cars from Japan are used, with each costing between Rp 800 million and Rp 1 billion.

"We can't afford to buy new ones because they cost between Rp 10 and 11 billion each," he said.

The company currently has 500 cars, including 180 non-AC cars, serving Jakarta and its outlying areas.

"We still have to replace another 100 cars by 2010," Akhmad said.

He said the Ciliwung circle line carried only 500 passengers per day, even though its maximum capacity is 400 passengers per journey.

"The low capacity is due to the lack of connections to other modes of transportation. Passengers who get off at Duri station, for example, find it difficult to switch to other transportation. The transportation agency should help us out with the stations," he said.

Head of the transportation agency, Nurachman, said his agency had already helped by building busway shelters at several stations, such as Manggarai and Senen.

"Jatinegara will also be connected to the busway when the new lanes are operational. We can't build any connecting shelters in Duri because the road is too narrow, but we've provided a busway shelter in Roxy," he said.

EU to keep ban on RI airlines

Andi Haswidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 04/12/2008 11:17 AM 

Indonesia will remain on the European Commission's list of countries whose airlines are banned from entering the EU, the commission announced Friday. 

Joining Indonesia on the list, updated for the seventh time since it was first introduced in 2006, are Ukrainian airline Ukraine Cargo Airways and all operations by Congolese carrier Hewa Bora Airways. 

This is Indonesia's third consecutive period on the list. 

A formal statement issued by the commission said Indonesian airline authorities had "still to demonstrate that they have completed the corrective actions" and the country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia had failed to adopt sufficient corrective measures. 

"Pending both the demonstration and the completion of remedial action by Garuda and the other airlines it was decided that none of the Indonesian carriers can be withdrawn at this stage from the Community list," the statement said. 

Indonesia was first included on the list in July last year after four deadly crashes, including one of a Garuda Boeing 737-400 in Yogyakarta on March 7, in which 21 passengers died and many others were injured. 

The worst crash in Indonesia last year was that of an Adam Air Boeing 737-400 on Jan. 1. The airplane crashed in Majene waters, Central Sulawesi, killing all 102 passengers and crew. No bodies were found. 

The European Commission's statement said its Air Safety Committee, composed of experts from member states, had heard clarifications and explanations from Garuda before updating the list and would closely monitor the progress of the corrective action. 

"The conclusion is clear: Those States or airlines which fail to act decisively to resolve their safety deficiencies will be placed on the list," said Jacques Barrot, the European Commission's vice president in charge of transport. 

The list of banned carriers, effective Friday, includes carriers from Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, the Kyrgyz Republic, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Swaziland and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nine individual carriers' operations are also fully banned in EU countries. 

At the time of writing, neither the local airline authority nor Garuda had made a formal response. 

In February, Transportation Minister Jusman Syafei Djamal hinted getting the ban lifted from Indonesia would be tough because it required consent from all 27 members of the EU. 

The ban was evaluated from the beginning of the year until February, with airline safety experts from Europe coming to inspect conditions on the ground. The experts found the local airline authority and local airlines continued to fail to meet sufficient standards. 

To address the matter, Jusman said he would take up the EU's offer of sending a representative to facilitate better communication between local authorities and decision makers in the 27 states. 

Since early last year, Garuda has been preparing to reinstate its long-haul Jakarta-Amsterdam route, which was terminated in 2004 because the airline was losing money at the time. 

To support the route, Garuda has already signed an agreement with Boeing to buy 10 B777-300ER airplanes. The B777-300ER is a long-range, wide-body, twin-engine aircraft able to carry up to 368 passengers.

Rajawali Group to develop Cambodian airline

Jakarta (ANTARA News/Asia Pulse) - Indonesia's Rajawali Group on Thursday signed a cooperation agreement with the Cambodian government to develop its national airline.

Under the agreement, Rajawali will build the infrastructure facilities needed to develop the airline, the company's spokesman, Christiantoko, said on Thursday. As a follow-up to the agreement, both sides will set up a new company which will be 49 per cent owned by Rajawali and 51 per cent by the Cambodian government, he said.

Govt officially revokes Adam Air`s flight permit

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Ministry of Transportation as of Wednesday officially revoked domestic airline company Adam Air`s flight permit (AOC) for 21 routes.

"The Air of Certificate (AOC) for all of Adam Air`s routes is automatically revoked as of today after the domestic airlines failed to operate for 21 days," Transportation Minister Jusman Safii Djamal said here on Wednesday.

The minister said the AOC would be offered to other airlines which met the requirements.

Previously, Air Transportation Director General Tri Sunoko said his side was ready to revoke Adam Air`s permit for all 21 flight routes if it did not serve the routes for 21 consecutive days.

"Based on existing regulations, its permit is automatically revoked if it does not serve the routes for 21 consecutive days," the director general said.

He said that with 21 routes, Adam Air had a big flight frequency per week, namely 490 domestic flights and 42 overseas flights.

He said if in the future Adam Air was able to operate again, it had to obtain a new air of certificate.

Adam Air`s passengers in 2007 were recorded at 5.2 million on domestic flights and 120,618 on international ones, with a fleet of 22 aircraft, mostly Boeings of the 200, 300, 400 and 500 series.

Air Force to acquire three Sukhoi fighter aircraft this year

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Three Russian-made Sukhoi or SU-30 jet fighter planes are to arrive in Indonesia later this year, Air Force Chief of Staff Marshal Subandrio said here on Wednesday.

"The three Sukhoi fighter planes from Russia are expected to arrive in Indonesia before the National Defense Forces (TNI) anniversary on October 5," Subandrio said after attending a function to mark the Air Force`s 62nd anniversary at Halim Perdanakusuma airport.

He said the three jet fighter aircrafts would become part of the Air Force`s Sukhoi Squadron V based in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

"The new fighter aircraft from Russia will heighten the state of the Air Force`s operational readiness," Subandrio said, adding that the Defense Ministry was at present negotiating with Russia about the planes` delivery to Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the defense ministry`s director general for defense facilities, Rear Marshal Erik Herryanto, said the ministry and Sukhoi aircraft maker Rosoborn Export would soon finalize negotiations on the supply of six Sukhoi fighter planes to Indonesia.

"The process to purchase the six Sukhois is almost completed and we are now only waiting for the issuance of a letter of credit by the finance ministry," Heryanto said.

The letter-of-credit issuing process would take three to six months so it was still difficult to say when exactly the Sukhois would be delivered, he said.

Fauzi gives agency September deadline to finish busway

Tifa Asrianti, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Sat, 04/05/2008 12:44 AM

Governor Fauzi Bowo demanded Friday the Jakarta Transportation Agency to finish the ongoing construction of busway lanes and shelters by September.

He threatened to replace agency head Nurachman if the deadline was not met.

"If the new busway lanes are still not functioning by September, we'll replace Nurachman," Fauzi said.

The construction of Corridor 8 (Lebak Bulus to Harmoni), Corridor 9 (Pinang Ranti-Pluit) and Corridor 10 (Cililitan-Tanjung Priok) has been delayed several times.

The corridors were scheduled to be finished in September 2007, or before former governor Sutiyoso ended his term. However, work was hampered by residents demonstrating against the project.

A new deadline of this April was set, however construction of the busway shelters continues at a snail's pace.

Nurachman promised the agency would have the new corridors ready for operation by August or September.

"The construction of Corridor 8 is 40 percent finished, Corridor 9 is 60 percent and Corridor 10 is 58 percent. We'll finish them in June," he said.

Fauzi said the administration would hold a tender to procure buses for the corridors after construction was completed.

"Once we've finished the tender and picked the consortium for the new corridors in June, we can get buses by the end of this year. While waiting for the new buses, we'll use buses from existing corridors on the new corridors," he said.

Nurachman said the procurement of 87 new buses for corridors 4 to 7 would be completed by July. Among these 87 are 13 articulated buses that will join the 10 articulated buses parked at Kampung Rambutan terminal awaiting deployment.

He said his agency was considering two options for the 13 new articulated buses; they could be used exclusively on Corridor 5 or distributed among corridors 1 to 7.

He added the remaining 74 new buses could be used on corridors 8 to 10, while waiting for the completion of the procurement process for the new lanes.

"I'm sure they (the 74 buses) will be able to serve the new corridors, with each corridor having more than a five minute headway," he said.

Nurachman said the 10 articulated buses at Kampung Rambutan would be put into service once the discussion on rate per kilometer was finished in May.

Fauzi also demanded officials provide more compressed natural gas (CNG) stations for TransJakarta buses, to guarantee the operation of those buses that run on CNG.

The majority of the TransJakarta fleet uses CNG. Only buses on Corridor 1 use gasoline.

Fauzi said the CNG buses had to make frequent and time-consuming trips from their corridors to the nearest CNG station. TransJakarta buses depend on three CNG stations, all of which are located on the outskirts of the city.

"I received a report that on average, the buses use three hours for every 17 operational hours just to fill their tanks. The inefficiency is around 20 percent, it's not good. I've asked officials to solve this problem before the launching of the new lanes."