"The new agreement is made to replace the old one made in 1990 and provides an important step for development of bilateral cooperation," the director general of air transportation, Herry Bakti S Gumay, told newsmen on the sidelines of a meeting with House Commission V here on Monday.
Herry said the new agreement states airlines from Indonesia and Russia could now conduct regular commercial direct flights between the two countries.
"It is not that no Indonesian airlines have so far conducted direct flights to Russia. With the new agreement we can now do it now," he said.
He said the two parties had also agreed to appoint four airports in Indonesia and Russia as destinations for regular direct flights between the two countries.
He said flights to Russia from Indonesia may be carried out from Jakarta, Manado (North Sulawesi), Solo (Central Java) and Denpasar (Bali) while flights from Russia may be done from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Novosibrisk.
The head of public communications of the ministry of transportation, Bambang S Ervan, meanwhile said so far Indonesia-Russia flights were served by Russian chartered airlines Transaero from Russia flying from Denpasar (Bali) to Moscow vice versa five times a week.
"With the new air service agreement Indonesian as well as Russian airline companies could now conduct regular direct flights between the two countries," he said.
According to data at the ministry of transportation air passenger traffic between Indonesia and Russia has so far been served by more than eight chartered planes from Transaero while two flights a week serve cargo transportation between Indonesia and Russia.
Herry said Russian Aeroflot had also written to the Indonesian government to apply for a regular direct flight service from Russia to Indonesia.
Before Aeroflot could fly directly to Indonesia the Indonesian government had asked the Russian company to acquire an operator certificate for foreign carriers.
"In principle it is okay. What they need to do is just informing when they will start flying and which routes they would take. That is a business-to-business deal. On the other hand the government meanwhile will just arrange the license," he said.
Herry admitted that until now no national airline company had expressed its interest to conduct direct flights to Russia. "However we believe Garuda Indonesia has already met all the requirements for it," he said.
He said he believed the new agreement would increase flows of tourists between the two countries and increase economic, trade and investment cooperation.
According to the ministry of tourism more than 80,000 Russian tourists visited Indonesia in 2010.(*)
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Editor: Jafar M Sidik
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
