By Raimundos
Oki
DILI
– It only takes one hour and forty minutes to fly by plane from
Denpasar to the capital city of the country of Timor Leste or East Timor, Dili.
This
eastern country where the sun rises had been part of Indonesia 19 years ago.
Until finally history ushered this country into a referendum on August 30,
1999, with the results of 344,580 people decided to free themselves from
Indonesia.
The country
has only operated one airport since independence, so the only gateway for air
travel to Dili is Nicolau Lobato International Airport.
Actually,
this airport is far from being an international impression. Imagine, the
airport runway only reaches 1,800 km.
There are
not many routes available at the airport. There are only three international
routes so far, namely Denpasar-Dili, Dili-Singapore and Dili-Darwin, and more
recently is Dili – Kupang. But the Silk Air had stopped last year because of
the political impasse and the route from Dili – Singapore is unavailable.
Meanwhile,
almost half of the flights there are run by Air Timor. A scheduled charter
airline that has been operating in Timor Leste since 2008.
In its
operations, the airline has no aircraft at all. What Air Timor has done so far
is to survive by partnering with Citilink.
In August
2014, Air Timor signed a partnership with Garuda Indonesia to serve the
Denpasar-Dili route starting October of the same year. The signing was carried
out by both parties, in the presence of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono and Timor-Leste Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao.
Under the
agreement, flights with Garuda Indonesia included in the full service service
category will include 12 business class seats and 84 economy class seats.
However, on
its way, Air Timor decided to divert cooperation with Garuda Indonesia to
Citilink Indonesia, which was still standing in a group with the red plate
airline bearing the bird. It is not known what are the detailed reasons why
there is a transition between the loan agreement and the aircraft. Until
finally, on June 5, 2015, Citilink and Air Timor signed an agreement to provide
aircraft.
It was only
on September 13, 2015 that Air Timor took Citilink officially to fly from
Denpasar to Dili.
Former East
Timorese president José Ramos Horta asked members of the government and
parliament not to be overly dependent on Indonesia, because almost a dozen
years the Garuda Indonesia company had killed the economy of Timor-Leste.
Horta
stated this because so far the Garuda Indonesia company has been conducting a
commercial flight between Dili - Bali where ticket prices are very expensive in
the world. Therefore, he asked the current government to be able to find good
solutions and alternatives with other companies from other countries.
“We have
seen an experience with Garuda. For me, Garuda has committed a major crime
against the economy of Timor-Leste. Timor must see and measure all this, why,
because Garuda always raises ticket prices, because it wants to kill tourists
to Timor, wants to kill the economy of Timor-Leste,” said Horta as reported by
Tempo Timor last week in Dili.
“So we want
good relations with Indonesia but we also have to see and stand one foot
behind, not all, all members of the government, all members of parliament go to
Indonesia, go to waste money in Surabaya and Bali”.
The average
price for direct flights from Dili to Bali is $588 per person. And from Dili to
Darwin is $538. But the current promotion price return flight Dili – Bali is
$440 for Jully 2019.
With the
ticket prices being very expensive, the number of visitors to Timor-Leste is
also greatly reduced. Data from the Tourist Information Center in the Ministry
of Tourism, Commerce and Industry that throughout 2018, around 400 tourists
visited Dili and between January and May 2019, there were only 50 tourists
visiting Dili.
On 24 May
2019, Horta brought the president of the Air Timor Company Francisco Oliveira
as the person in charge of the China Air Company to meet with the prime
minister Taur Matan Ruak to talk about what China Air could do in Timor-Leste.
"I
accompanied Air Timor's management to meet with the prime minister, I did not
participate in commercial relations with them but felt worried about our
difficulties regarding the very expensive ticket prices".
Seeing how
to solve this problem because Silk Air (Singapore) has stopped and we are 100%
dependent on airlines that lack of credibility such as Citilink and Sriwijaya.
If this
country has sovereignty, according to Horta must find a solution so that Air
Timor can cooperate with China Air.
“New plane,
Air Timor has entered into an agreement with China Air and is now awaiting
authorization from the government so that this plan can fly from Dili - Bali, Hong
Kong Darwin, and Perth - Singapore".
On June 10,
2019, Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak stated that he had agreed to China Air's
request to invest in Timor-Leste.
"I am
authorized, as I have said that relations with other countries must be
compatible but the government supports this initiative."
On June 14,
2019, the TransNusa vessel has flown Kupang Dili.
According
to the existing schedule, this flight will be carried out twice a week, Monday
and Friday.
East
Timor's chief of civil aviation Ana Rosalia Ximenes Varela, stated that so far
Timor-Leste had many difficulties regarding the price of airline tickets. This
difficulty occurs because the Citilink and Srijiwijaya companies sell very
expensive ticket prices from Dili – Denpasar, and Denpasar – Dili with the
origin of the two companies that belong to the Garuda Company.
The ticket
price for TransNusa Dili - Kupang ranges from US $ 30 - US $ 80 per person.
"Another
problem in April 2019 is the Dili - Singapore, Singapore - Dili route which was
closed because the company's financial capabilities were not enough," she
explained.
To solve
this problem, according to Varela, the government has signed several Air
Service Management MoUs with other companies to invest in Timor-Leste. The
government has signed the ASA with the Philippines and Malaysia.
A version of this article
appears in Tempo Timor Online on June 29, 2019 with the headline: Horta accused the Garuda company killing East
Timor economy.
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