New Airbus airplanes will help Mandala Airlines reach its goal of carrying 25 percent more passengers this year, CEO Warwick Brady said last week.
“We are planning to invest a total of Rp 1.8 billion (US$206,232) on 30 new Airbus airplanes to achieve our 25 percent annual growth of passengers,” Warwick said.
Mandala Airlines head Diono Nurjadin said from 2009 the airline would operate with only two types of Airbus — the A-320, capable of carrying 180 passengers, and the A-319, capable of carrying 144 passengers.
The “new generation” airplanes will improve airline efficiency, Diono said.
“By using these new generation airplanes, we will be able to save 30 percent of fuel consumption,” he said.
The airline has switched from using the Boeing 737-200, which served the airline for 25 years.
“We are going to return all the Boeing-type aircraft that we rent and sell those that we own,” Diono said.
Warwick said low-cost carriers were forced to boost efficiency to compete.
“It is a myth that low-cost carriers are unsafe. On the contrary, we follow international standards and are the safest type of airline in the world. Low-cost carriers’ accident rate per 1,000 flights is less than other types of airlines,” he said.
The number of low-cost flights in the Asia-Pacific region has jumped from 3,900 in 2001 to 60,000 in 2007, according to the international flight information company OAG.
Mandala is currently undergoing an operational safety audit to receive certification by the International Air Transport Association.
Diono said although Mandala Airlines was not a member of the association, it had decided to be audited.
“We want to show the world we are meeting its standards,” he said. (lva)
Source: The Jakarta Post
April 7th, 2008
(The Jakarta Post) The Jakarta Bintangs Australian Rules Football Club has launched a new program to develop “Aussie Rules” among young people in Jakarta with support from the Australian Government.
Former Australian Football League (AFL) player Chris Bandy, who has been living in Indonesia for several years, was chosen by the Australian government’s overseas aid program (AusAID) to lead a group of Indonesian coaches to set up regular training sessions and games in around 100 schools, involving more than 10,000 students and teachers in East and South Jakarta.
“I really think Indonesian children will love playing Australian Footy — it’s fast, skillful and a great team sport,” Bandy said in an e-mail statement sent to The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
“I am looking forward to teaching local kids about our great game.”
Australian rules football is a version of rugby that was developed in Melbourne in 1858. It is played with a prolate spheroid ball, on large oval shaped fields, with four posts at each end. The inner pair of posts on each end are known as the goal posts, while the outer posts are known as the behind posts.
No more than 18 players of each team are permitted to be on the field at any time, with four interchange players on the bench, the primary aim of the game is to score by kicking the ball between the posts. The winners are the team who has the higher total score at the end of the match.
The one-year-training and games arrangement is part of AusAID’s Australian Youth Ambassador Program.
Australian Ambassador to Indonesia Bill Farmer said, “The Australian Government is proud to support this initiative, which will provide a sporting outlet for Indonesian youth and promote our unique game in Indonesia.”
“Learning about this very popular part of Australian culture cannot help but strengthen the extensive people-to-people links which exist between our two countries,” said Farmer, who is also the patron of the Jakarta Bintangs.
Jakarta Bintangs’ spokesman Jason Moynihan told the Post that the Australia-Indonesia Institute, an Australian Government initiative, had given them a grant which would be used to provide training materials, equipment and wages for Indonesian coaches, helping to ensure the Bintangs can develop a network of local coaches to manage the long-term development of the game.
By: Matheos V. Messakh , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
April 7th, 2008