Venisa Tjahjono

Turkish Airlines will make five weekly round-trips per week to Istanbul. (Photo: Kerim Okten, EPA)

Indonesia's Ties With Turkey Lifted by Air Link

After an 11-year hiatus, Turkish Airlines on Friday reinstated its Istanbul-to-Jakarta route as part of Turkey’s plans to boost trade with Indonesia, said the Mediterranean country’s finance minister, Mehmet Simsek.

He said he believed that tremendous opportunities existed to expand links between Turkey and Indonesia, perhaps leading to a doubling of trade volumes over the next several years.

Indonesia’s exports to Turkey totaled $1.4 billion in 2008, while Turkey exported $300 million to Indonesia.

Simsek said Turkey’s main trading partner was the European Union, and that manufactured products accounted for 95 percent of the country’s exports.

“Turkey will most likely be importing energy-based products, such as oil and gas, as well as agricultural goods, from Indonesia,” he said.

Meanwhile, Turkish Airlines will operate five weekly round-trip flights between Istanbul and Jakarta, with a stopover both ways in Singapore.

It will become the third carrier to offer flights between Jakarta and Europe, after the Netherlands-based KLM and Germany’s Lufthansa.

Turkish Airlines said it would consider establishing direct flights between Jakarta and Istanbul as the market matures, perhaps in 2011.

“As members of the [Group of 20], the two countries should be connected, especially given flourishing trade and tourism ties,” said Candan Karlitekin, the chairman of Turkish Airlines.

Simsek said reinstating the air route between Istanbul and Jakarta was just the beginning.

“This is the first step in our efforts to enhance the relationship between Europe and Indonesia and to increase investment. We think that this is the right step forward,” he said.

“Right now, the products we trade may not be very diversified, but we’re focusing on more business-to-business interaction … there’s no reason why trade volume won’t double in the next few years.”

The airline’s operating profit fell 9 percent in first half to 73 million euro.

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