Adam Air spreads wings to more big cities

Tony Hotland, Jakarta

Newly established Adam Sky Connection Airlines (Adam Air) has spread its wings by opening new routes from Jakarta to two major cities, Semarang, Central Java, and Surabaya, East Java, to capitalize on the large number of potential passengers.

Airline deputy senior director Leo Nababan told a media briefing on Monday that the new routes, which would start on May 14, were in line with the company's initial concept of conquering the western part of Indonesia before going east.

Adam Air will fly to Surabaya three times daily, at a price of Rp 199,000 (US$23.41).

According to government data, at least 20 local and foreign airlines fly to and from Juanda Airport, Surabaya, one of the busiest cities for business apart from Jakarta and Medan. Over 8,000 passengers took off from Surabaya to Jakarta weekly last year.

Adam Air also offers flights to Semarang twice a day at a price of Rp 249,000, after learning that only a few airlines fly there.

"This route has become one of the least attractive as the Ahmad Yani Airport runway is quite short," said Leo.

Besides Surabaya and Semarang, Adam Air currently offers flights from Jakarta to other major cities, such as Medan (North Sumatra), Yogyakarta, Pontianak (West Kalimantan), Pangkalpinang, and Denpasar (Bali).

Leo added that the airline would purchase six more planes in June to accommodate more planned routes overseas, such as Singapore, Guangzhou in China, Hong Kong and Abu Dhabi in Saudi Arabia.

Leo claimed that the load factor of Adam Air was around 85 percent, with the busiest routes being from Jakarta to Medan and vice versa.

Established late last year, Adam Air is one of the latest new local, no-frills airlines, which have been mushrooming in Indonesia due to an abundance of passengers and regulations allowing airlines to compete on price.

According to data from the Ministry of Communications, the low-cost airline concept increased the number of domestic passengers to 16.5 million in 2003 from 12.3 million in 2002. In 2004, the number is projected to surge to 20 million.