AIR TRANSPORTATION
TRANSPORTATION
AIR TRANSPORTATION
air transport is the easiest and most comfortable means of travel in Indonesia. Air services are available to all provincial district capitals and other remote areas operated by _ Garuda Indonesia. Merpati Nusantara, Sempati Air, Bouraq and Mandala Airlines.
Garuda Indonesia, the national flag carrier, operates on both international and domestic routes. Domestically it serves 33 cities including all the provincial capitals.
The only all-jet airline on domestic routes, it has several daily flights from Jakarta to destination of commercial and touristic importance, such as Bali, Medan, Ujung Pandang, Manado and Yogyakarta. It also operates shuttIe flights to Surabaya and Semarang several times a day. For visitors Garuda Indonesia has introduced Visit Indonesia Air Passes which offers special fares on its domestic flights. The passes are sold in conjunction with travel on Garuda from Europe, USA, Australia and Japan, and have to be purchased from Garuda Offices in these areas. On its international network, Garuda Indonesia serves London, Amsterdam, Brussles, Frankfurt, Paris, Zurich, Rome, Vienna, Cairo, Abudhabi, Jeddah and Riyadh. In Asia and to points South, destinations are Ho Chi Min city, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Taipei, Manila, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Nagoya, Seoul, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Portheland and Auckland. Garuda serves Honolulu and Los Angeles as well.
Merpati Nusantara Airlines is the second national carrier and flies to about 1 10 destination in Indonesia and has some border crossing flights to Australia (Darwin), Brunei Darussalam, Davao (Philippines), and East Malaysia (Kuching). Bouraq and Mandala also have scheduled services. There are some other privately owned airlines which mainly operate charter flights. Indonesia's three main gateways are Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Jakarta, Polonia Airport in Medan and Ngurah Rai Airport in Bali. Several international airlines serve Jakarta. Medan receives direct flights from Singapore, Penang and Kuala Lumpur operated by Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines System (MASj, Silk Air and Garuda.
Bali is served by Garuda and Qantas and since 1986 Garuda initiated joint services with SIA, MAS, Cathay Pacific, JAL, Silk Air, China Airlines, Thai Airways Int'l, Continental Airlines and Royal Brunei for direct flights to Bali from Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Brunei Darussalam, Guatemala, Hongkong, Nagoya, Osaka, Tokyo, and Taipei and other service from Amsterdam, through Vienna and Abudhabi to Medan and Bali, offering easier accessibility and overflying Jakarta.