Search A handout photo shows the new Indonesian budget airline Super Air Jet s livery and air crew members in the airline s uniform. (Photo courtesy of Super Air Jet) Super Air Jet Sets Up Wider Post-Pandemic Moat for Rusdi Kirana s Empire BY :HERMAN, THRESA SANDRA DESFIKA, DION BISARA MAY 05, 2021
Jakarta. New budget airline Super Air Jet s surprise attempt to break into the country s limping air-travel industry would only ensure Lion Air s founder Rusdi Kirana s dominance in the country s post-pandemic travel, providing the billionaire with a wider moat to dissuade aspiring entrants to the market.
The airline would be the Southeast Asia country s first new airline in the past ten years, which saw the domestic airline industry consolidating into a duopoly: Lion Air Group in the budget segment and flagship-carrier Garuda Indonesia and full-service segment.
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JAKARTA, May 3 (Reuters) - Indonesian low-cost start-up airline Super Air Jet aims to begin flying soon with a business model focused on tech-obsessed millennials with a propensity to travel, the carrier’s chief executive, Ari Azhari, said on Monday.
Industry sources said the airline has links to Indonesia’s biggest airline group, Lion Air Group, though the nature of any ownership overlap is unknown.
Azhari had been the general manager of Lion Air Group and the statement on Super Air Jet’s launch was provided to Reuters by Lion Air’s spokesman. The spokesman did not respond to questions on its links to Lion Air.
Source: Super Air Jet
Source: Super Air Jet
Source: Super Air Jet
Source: Super Air Jet
In response to a query FlightGlobal sent to Lion’s communications team, a spokesman sent a statement about the new airline – although the statement makes no mention of Lion. Further, Reuters reports that the new carrier will be run by Ari Azhari, formerly a general manager in Lion Group.
The statement indicates that the airline will commence services with Airbus A320 family jets, and that it will operate a low cost model.
Cirium fleets data suggests that the new airline has already secured its first aircraft, a A320 on lease from CDB Aviation. The aircraft (MSN 4488) was operated by IndiGo from 2010 to 2020, and is now in storage at Batam’s Hang Nadim International Airport.
By Cirium2021-04-21T01:24:00+01:00
Indonesia’s aviation sector is expected to make a full recovery by 2026, contingent on vaccines and the successful containment of the pandemic.
Domestic and international flight volumes are predicted to return to pre-pandemic levels in 2024 and in 2026, respectively, according to a white paper by Padjadjaran University (UNPAD) and commissioned by the Indonesia National Air Carriers Association (INACA).
Source: Greg Waldron/FlightGlobal
A Lion Air 737-900ER
At a 15 April virtual presentation of the white paper, UNPAD researchers outlined three recovery scenarios ranging from optimistic to moderate to pessimistic.
Under the moderate outlook, they expect domestic air travel recovery to start in early 2022 and international air traffic to improve by the end of 2023. They predict domestic passenger volumes will reach nearly 78.7 million in December 2024, almost surpassing the 79 million passengers in 2019.