PM Lee hopes for swift resolution to delay of new flight route

SEMARANG — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Monday (Nov 14) he hopes the delay in the launch of Singapore Airlines flights linking Singapore, Jakarta and Sydney will be resolved soon.

The national carrier said last week it would have to push back the launch of the thrice-weekly flights even though it had received written approvals and secured airport slots for a Nov 23 launch. This came after Indonesian civil aviation authorities, citing runway maintenance works at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, said they “are now unable to approve the flights”.

Speaking to Singapore media after the Singapore-Indonesia Leaders’ Retreat in Semarang on Monday, Mr Lee said he discussed the matter with President Joko Widodo and pointed out that aviation is an important aspect of enhancing tourism cooperation between the two countries.

Noting that there needs to be “certainty and confidence that aviation is growing” for the tourism industry to build up its business, Mr Lee said: “Because if you build up the business, and then it turns out that the aviation is not able to grow in time, well, that is a problem. I think he understood what I was trying to say.”

Mr Lee said he hopes the matter would be resolved soon. “The explanation given has been that it’s to do with the maintenance of the runway at Soekarno-Hatta and we hope that would be completed expeditiously and furthermore, if there is any impact on the airlines, it will be fairly distributed,” he said.