Adam Air spreads wings to more big cities
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.