AdamAir flies to Banda Aceh, sees bright future

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

PT Adam SkyConnections Airlines (AdamAir) has officially opened a new route serving Jakarta-Banda Aceh via Medan as the new airline has projected a high demand in the future.

AdamAir chief executive officer Gunawan Suherman said the opening of the new route on Monday would help with transporting incoming volunteers to the devastated Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam and outgoing survivors.

"We actually served a direct route from Jakarta to Banda Aceh in January. After the Dec. 26 catastrophe, we even offered free seats for volunteers going to Aceh on Jan. 1, Jan. 2 and Jan. 3," he said.

"However, we had to stop the service because many people who claimed to be volunteers were in fact nothing of the sort. As an alternative, we decided to prioritize journalists who wanted to travel to the province," he added.

AdamAir started its domestic airline operations in December 2003 with Boeing 747-400 and Boeing 737-500 aircraft -- made between 1997 and 2000 -- as its carriers.

The company board of commissioners is chaired by Agung Laksono, the incumbent speaker of the House of Representatives.

This June, AdamAir plans to deploy seven more planes serving Jakarta-Manado (North Sulawesi), Jakarta-Mataram (West Nusa Tenggara), Jakarta-Batam (Riau), Jakarta-Semarang, Jakarta- Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan), Jakarta-Ambon (Maluku) and Jakarta-Balikpapan (East Kalimantan).

AdamAir is also offering flights from Aceh to Penang, Malaysia, via Medan.

Gunawan said the Acehnese preferred to go to Penang, rather than Jakarta, to do business or have medical checkups.

"If Jakartans prefer Singapore, Acehnese prefer Penang particularly for medical reasons," he said. "It has become their habit to fly to Penang due to the lower living cost there compared to Jakarta and Singapore, while hospitals there are comparable to those in Singapore," he said.

AdamAir also plans to open new international routes from the three main cities of Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya to Indonesians' favorite destinations of Singapore, Malaysia and Perth. To do so, the airline will provide 10 more Boeing 737s.

"We expect to operate 25 planes by the year's end," Gunawan said.

AdamAir signed a five-year contract in January with aircraft maintenance provider Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) for the maintenance of its Boeing 737s. It has also signed a contract with the Garuda Maintenance Facility AsiaAero (GMF AA).