Indonesia will only fulfill its promise to open its cargo skies to the rest of Southeast Asia when its domestic operators are capable of withstanding competition from foreign carriers, according to the ministry of transportation.
The transport ministry’s director general Budhi Mulyawan Suyitno recently told Indonesian media that while the country had agreed to the open skies concept, its implementation was dependent on bilateral agreements, “which are not easy”.
In 2002, Indonesia and nine other countries grouped in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) grouping signed a memorandum of understanding on the liberalisation of air freight services.
The MOU required ASEAN members to open air routes linking their capital cities to all member cargo companies by December 2008, and then expand the routes to other cities by 2015.
The member countries will be allowed to operate all-cargo services with a maximum load of up to 250 tonnes a week but without limitations on flight frequencies and aircraft type.
But the implementation of the policy demands that all members sign bilateral deals which many observers suggest runs directly counter to the concept of open skies.