Mandala to Open Four New Flight Routes in December

Budget carrier Mandala Airlines is preparing to launch four new routes by the end of this year following expansion of its fleet. There will be two new domestic routes, Jakarta – Padang and Denpasar – Surabaya; and two international routes, Padang – Singapore and Denpasar – Singapore. The new routes will be served by new 180 seats Airbus A320s. Mandala, which is 33% owned by Singapore’s Tiger Airways, currently flies five routes in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. (source: The Jakarta Post)

New Commercial Airport in Purbalingga, Central Java

Wirasaba airbase, 115 hectares military airbase owned by the Air Force (TNI AU), will be converted into commercial airport as written by the Jakarta post. It is located in Wirasaba village, Bukateja district, Purbalingga regency, Central Java.

Four nearby regents which are Banjarnegara, Banyumas, Purbalingga and Wonosobo have stated their support along with one of Indonesia’s pioneer airlines, PT Asi Pudjiastuti Aviation, locally known as Susi Air.

Principle permit for the conversion of the Wirasaba Airbase into commercial or civilian airport had been issued since April 2007 with the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on April 30, 2007, between the Air Force and the regency administration. Due to technical issues, the conversion has been delayed until now.

With this conversion, it will be expected to encourage more investors to do business in the southern region of Central Java.

Garuda to spread its wings in New Zealand

Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia signed off on a deal with Auckland Airport on Monday as part of its business expansion in New Zealand.

"New Zealand is a [high] tourism and business potential country and we would like to take this opportunity to connect Jakarta and Auckland," Garuda president director Emirsyah Satar said on the sidelines of the inking of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Jakarta.

He also said that the agreement covered promotional activities to be conducted by Garuda and Auckland Airport in order to promote Indonesia to New Zealanders.

"We are planning to open the route in early 2013," he added.

Garuda will use the Airbus A330-300 to fly the route.

In addition, the Jakarta-Auckland route will help Garuda to connect its passengers to Latin American countries, expanding its global network.
The MoU was signed by Emirsyah and Auckland Airport chairwoman Joan Withers, and was witnessed by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, Indonesian Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan and his New Zealand counterpart Tim Groser.

Garuda Signed $2.5 billion Deal of Airbus

Publicly-listed national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia signed a purchase contract on Wednesday for 11 A330-300 planes worth US$2.54 billion from the British airline manufacturer Airbus.

The deal was signed by Garuda Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar and Airbus program vice president Tom William, witnessed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and visiting UK Prime Minister David Cameron at the State Palace on the sidelines of the latter’s visit to Indonesia.

Emir said the purchase of the new planes was in line with the company’s strategy to expand its capacity and add more middle- and long-distance flight routes.

“Garuda aims to operate 194 planes in 2015, comprising B737-800NG, A330-300/200, B777-300ER and A320, with the average plane age of five years,” he told reporters after the signing at the State Palace in Jakarta.

“The 11 planes will be delivered until the fourth quarter of 2017. This is our third order. In November this year, the first plane will have arrived,” he continued.

Emir revealed Airbus planes would be used for flight in the region of Asia and Australia. Several countries, which will become destinations, were Australia, China, Japan, Korea and New Zealand.

“We have chosen Airbus because planes made by the company are the best for regional flights with duration of between eight and nine hours. The plane’s body is also quite wide, it’s suitable for the specifications we need,” he explained.

For the financing, Emir revealed that a third of the funds required would come from Garuda’s internal budget, while the remainder would be financed by leasers or banks. However, he declined to disclose the names of the leasers.

Of the contract signing, William said it was the continuation of his company’s good relationship with Garuda.

“We express our highest appreciation for achievements made by Garuda, particularly in the financial, operational and customer service sides. We’re very proud to be part of Garuda’s development,” he said.

Earlier, Garuda had signed two memorandums of understandings with Airbus for the purchase of 10 A330-200 planes in 2010 and 50 A320 planes for Citilink (Garuda’s subsidiary which handles low-cost flights) in 2011.

In 2012, the company will receive 21 new planes, comprising four B737-800NG, two A330-200, 10 A320 and five Sub-Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen. From the 21 planes, Garuda received a B737-800NG and an A330-200 in February.

With the presence of those plans, in 2012, Garuda will have 105 planes with the age average of 5.8 years.

Garuda has also announced that to increase its penetration in the international market, the carrier will open a Denpasar (Bali) – Haneda (Tokyo) route on April 27 and a Jakarta – Taipei route on May 24.

Cameron came to Indonesia in a bid to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries, particularly in trade and investment.

President Yudhoyono hoped Indonesia and the UK could continuously boost trade value. He reported that last year, the value had jumped to $2.8 billion from $2.6 billion in 2010.

“The UK is the fifth largest investor in Indonesia, and we aim to find more opportunities to increase investments between the two countries. We also encourage Indonesian businessmen to invest in the UK,” he said.

Indonesia aviation industry welcomes Pacific Royale Airways as new full-service player

Indonesia’s Pacific Royale Airways is set to launch next month as a full-service carrier operating on domestic as well as international routes, a segment that is currently dominated by national airline Garuda Indonesia as reported by TTG Asia.

Pacific Royale Airways CEO Samudra Sukardi -the former Vice President of the Garuda Indonesia Group- said: “Our mission at Pacific Royale Airways is to enter Indonesia’s market to address the public concerns in flight safety, punctuality and good services.”

Due to receive its Air Operator’s Certificate in mid-March, the airline has so far been granted approval to launch routes from four Indonesian hubs including Bandung, Surabaya and Jakarta, and to operate 62 domestic and 11 international city pairs. International destinations such as Mumbai, Singapore, Hong Kong and Kuala Lumpur are on the cards. They will be based in Jakarta with branches in Surabaya, Batam and Medan. Those three cities will form a connective network of connections to several cities in the vicinity.

Domestic operations will start with two Airbus A320-200 aircrafts, while two Fokker 50 planes will be deployed to serve feeder destinations within the country. Three additional Fokker 50s and two more Airbus A320s will arrive in May, with an Airbus A330 aircraft scheduled to arrive by year-end.

Seriousness in the premium class is shown by the work with entertainment and communications design firm from the United States, Lumexis Corporation. In addition, Pacific Royale Airways has also partnered with Abacus International to handle information technology, especially in Internet-based ticketing system, which will allow travel consultants within the Abacus network to access its published fares and inventory.

“As we plan to operate domestic flights and potential international flights to Asia, we hope to leverage on Abacus’ network to drive sales and yield,” explained Samudra.

Pacific Royale Airways’ Chairman, Tarun Trikha said they were optimistic the passenger market in Indonesia is on the rise. "We will take the upper middle class market big enough. Indonesia is the most populous country after China, India, and the United States. Growth upper middle class is quite high," said Tarun.

Garuda puffs up its expansion strategy

GARUDA Indonesia shareholders approved earlier this month a motion to buy 97 new aircraft by 2016, a huge jump over the 36 planes it was originally planning to add to its fleet.

Under the beefed-up expansion programme, Garuda will purchase 20 Boeing B737-800NGs, 24 Airbus A330-200s, 25 five narrow-bodied aircraft for Garuda Citilink, and 18 sub-100 seat aircraft. An original order for 10 Boeing B777-300ERs for longhaul operations will remain or switch to other similar aircraft.

Garuda vice president corporate communications Pujobroto said: “Garuda earlier announced through the Quantum Leap Programme that it would operate 154 aircraft by 2015.”

“With the new fleet expansion programme, Garuda will operate 194 aircraft comprising of 24 A330s, nine B777s, 85 B737-800NGs, 50 A320s for Citilink, 25 Sub-100s and three freighters by 2015.”

According to Pujobroto, the enhanced fleet expansion was in anticipation of significant increases in airline passengers, both domestically and internationally.

“It is also part of Garuda’s efforts to boost efficiency, as the new aircraft are more fuel-efficient and environment friendly," he explained. "Their maintenance cost is also lower."

AirAsia Introduces Kuala Lumpur-Semarang Flights

AIRASIA has launched daily services between Kuala Lumpur and Semarang, the capital of Central Java, bringing 160 passengers on its maiden flight on February 6.

AirAsia Indonesia president director Dharmadi said: “(Semarang) marks AirAsia’s fourteenth destination (in Indonesia) from Kuala Lumpur.”

The carrier also connects Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Jogjakarta, Bandung, Denpasar, Solo, Balikpapan, Palembang, Aceh, Perkanbaru, Padang and Makassar.

Dharmadi said the Kuala Lumpur-Semarang route had the potential to galvanise the Malaysian outbound market to Semarang, and added that AirAsia was also looking to target transit traffic from China, South Korea and Japan.

“We are working on the China market (especially from) Beijing. In fact, there were passengers from Guangzhou on our maiden flight,” he said.

Meanwhile, AirAsia is scheduled to start twice-daily Jakarta-Semarang services from March 9.