ID :
70457
Wed, 07/15/2009 - 10:09
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/70457
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RI CONSULATE IN DARWIN DISAPPOINTED OVER GARUDA'S DECISION
Darwin, July 14 (ANTARA) - Indonesian Consul in Darwin Harbangan Napitupulu expressed profound regret that there is no hope Garuda Indonesia would resume its operations in the Northern Territory (NT) soon as many will miss Garuda's services, including Australian businessmen.
"Garuda's absence in Darwin would not only have a negative impact on Indonesians, Australians and other foreigners here, but businesspeople as well, especially those who had used Garuda's services on a regular basis," he told ANTARA here Tuesday in response to the decision of the Indonesian flag-carrier's president director to that effect.
It has been for a long time since Australian businesspeople in NT preferred Garuda Indonesia because only this Indonesian national airline company has a business class with full service in the last 30 years in Darwin, he said.
Australia's low-cost airline company, Jetstar, which is now monopolizing the Darwin-Denpasar route, nor has a business class, neither provides full services as Garuda, although its return ticket is more than double that of Garuda's, he said.
"When Garuda is still operating there, Jetstar's return ticket (to Denpasar) was still 350 Australian dollars, but now has reached 800 to 900 Australian dollars," Napitupulu said.
Disappointment
The decision of Garuda Indonesia's management not to resume its flights to Darwin which it had stopped since April 22, 2009, had also caused disappointment on the part of the NT government.
Despite its disappointment, the NT administration would continue its cooperation with Garuda and the Indonesian government in anticipation of good opportunities in the future.
The reaction of the NT government to Garuda management's final decision carried in a letter of Garuda's president director Emirsyah Satar dated July 10, 2009, had been expressed by NT Transportation Minister for Asia Christopher Bruce Burns in his press statement in Darwin Tuesday.
Chris Burns said the bad news from Garuda would not affect the cooperation between the NT administration and the airline companies which had been consistently serving flights from and to the Northern Territory.
"This week I will meet the president directors of (the airline companies) Tiger, Virgin, Jetstar, and Qantas to discuss the future of NT," he said.
With regard to the two conditions of Garuda to resume flights to Darwin, namely improved world economy and a permit from the Australian Federal Government allowing Garuda to serve domestic flights in that country, Chris Burns said the second condition could not be granted.
"The Federal government has pointed out that foreign airline companies have no right to domestic flights," he said.
Conditional
In the meantime, Garuda Indonesia's management in Jakarta said that it would not resume the Denpasar-Darwin flights stopped since last April 22, unless Garuda is entitled to domestic flights from cities in Australia to Darwin on a non-reciprocal basis.
The decision was carried in a letter of Garuda's president director Emirsyah Satar to Chris Burns dated July 10, 2009, a copy of which was obtained by ANTARA in Darwin Tuesday.
In the letter, Emirsyah said besides the right to domestic flights from cities in Australia to Darwin on a non-reciprocal basis, Garuda will reconsider resuming the Denpasar-Darwin flights if the economy has improved significantly.
Apart from the result of the meeting of the technical team with Garuda and the NT government, which was still going on the date of this letter, Emirsyah said the result of the meeting would not change the decision in the short run.
Garuda had stopped flying over the Darwin-Denpasar route because it said it was not lucrative enough and because it would be rather difficult for the world economy to improve in the short run, he said.
Since Garuda stopped operating in Darwin on last April 22, Minister Chris Burns had been trying hard to restore the Indonesian national airline company to the Northern Territory.
He not only met State Minister of State Enterprises Sofyan Djalil, Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal, and Garuda's president director Emirsyah Satar in Jakarta, but also offered financial support for cooperation with Garuda.
"I will do anything to restore Garuda to Darwin," he said in a press statement dated last April 23.
Since June 2008, until prior to the decision to stop the flights, Garuda covered the Darwin-Denpasar route three times each week using Boeing 737-400s which have business class seats for 16 passengers and economy class seats for 117 passengers on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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"Garuda's absence in Darwin would not only have a negative impact on Indonesians, Australians and other foreigners here, but businesspeople as well, especially those who had used Garuda's services on a regular basis," he told ANTARA here Tuesday in response to the decision of the Indonesian flag-carrier's president director to that effect.
It has been for a long time since Australian businesspeople in NT preferred Garuda Indonesia because only this Indonesian national airline company has a business class with full service in the last 30 years in Darwin, he said.
Australia's low-cost airline company, Jetstar, which is now monopolizing the Darwin-Denpasar route, nor has a business class, neither provides full services as Garuda, although its return ticket is more than double that of Garuda's, he said.
"When Garuda is still operating there, Jetstar's return ticket (to Denpasar) was still 350 Australian dollars, but now has reached 800 to 900 Australian dollars," Napitupulu said.
Disappointment
The decision of Garuda Indonesia's management not to resume its flights to Darwin which it had stopped since April 22, 2009, had also caused disappointment on the part of the NT government.
Despite its disappointment, the NT administration would continue its cooperation with Garuda and the Indonesian government in anticipation of good opportunities in the future.
The reaction of the NT government to Garuda management's final decision carried in a letter of Garuda's president director Emirsyah Satar dated July 10, 2009, had been expressed by NT Transportation Minister for Asia Christopher Bruce Burns in his press statement in Darwin Tuesday.
Chris Burns said the bad news from Garuda would not affect the cooperation between the NT administration and the airline companies which had been consistently serving flights from and to the Northern Territory.
"This week I will meet the president directors of (the airline companies) Tiger, Virgin, Jetstar, and Qantas to discuss the future of NT," he said.
With regard to the two conditions of Garuda to resume flights to Darwin, namely improved world economy and a permit from the Australian Federal Government allowing Garuda to serve domestic flights in that country, Chris Burns said the second condition could not be granted.
"The Federal government has pointed out that foreign airline companies have no right to domestic flights," he said.
Conditional
In the meantime, Garuda Indonesia's management in Jakarta said that it would not resume the Denpasar-Darwin flights stopped since last April 22, unless Garuda is entitled to domestic flights from cities in Australia to Darwin on a non-reciprocal basis.
The decision was carried in a letter of Garuda's president director Emirsyah Satar to Chris Burns dated July 10, 2009, a copy of which was obtained by ANTARA in Darwin Tuesday.
In the letter, Emirsyah said besides the right to domestic flights from cities in Australia to Darwin on a non-reciprocal basis, Garuda will reconsider resuming the Denpasar-Darwin flights if the economy has improved significantly.
Apart from the result of the meeting of the technical team with Garuda and the NT government, which was still going on the date of this letter, Emirsyah said the result of the meeting would not change the decision in the short run.
Garuda had stopped flying over the Darwin-Denpasar route because it said it was not lucrative enough and because it would be rather difficult for the world economy to improve in the short run, he said.
Since Garuda stopped operating in Darwin on last April 22, Minister Chris Burns had been trying hard to restore the Indonesian national airline company to the Northern Territory.
He not only met State Minister of State Enterprises Sofyan Djalil, Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal, and Garuda's president director Emirsyah Satar in Jakarta, but also offered financial support for cooperation with Garuda.
"I will do anything to restore Garuda to Darwin," he said in a press statement dated last April 23.
Since June 2008, until prior to the decision to stop the flights, Garuda covered the Darwin-Denpasar route three times each week using Boeing 737-400s which have business class seats for 16 passengers and economy class seats for 117 passengers on every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
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