BATAVIA AIR TO OPEN JAKARTA-JEDDA FLIGHT ROUTE

Jakarta, June 19 (ANTARA) - Batavia Air will open a Jakarta - Jedda flight route and serve it five times a week starting on August 10, its commercial director said.

"We will use two Airbus A330-200s (to serve the route)," Bachrul Hakim said here on Thursday.

Batavia Air flights would target Indonesian migrant workers employed in Saudi Arabia and Indonesian Muslims wishing to perform minor hajj (umroh) in the Holy Land, he said.

"The market is quite large. On average other airlines that have served the route recorded 85-90 percent load factor," he said.
The head of Batavia Air representative office in the Middle East, Sukirno Sukarna, said the airline had secured in-principle permit from both countries.

"We obtained it (in-principle permit) from the Saudi Kingdom a month ago," he said.

He said the airline was in the middle of completing technical preparations including those for the arrival of the two planes used to serve the route.

The planes were scheduled to arrive in Jakarta in the third week of July 2009, he said.

Batavia Air is the second national private airline to serve the route.

Earlier in March, Lion Air opened a Jakarta-Jedda flight route.

The number of air travellers between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia is currently estimated at 50,000 per month.