AWAIR to add more planes, expand routes

AWAIR to add more planes, expand routes

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Low-cost carrier PT AWAIR International plans to add one aircraft
to its fleet in December and five more next year as it expands
its domestic routes.

"A Boeing 737-300, which we are leasing, will arrive next
month," AWAIR president director Sendjaja Widjaja said on
Thursday. "We hope to add five more aircraft to our fleet next
year."

AWAIR, the local arm of the regional budget airline AirAsia,
will use the aircraft arriving next month to serve the route
between Jakarta and Surakarta, Central Java. The five planes
arriving next year do not yet have fixed routes.

"Flights to Central Java currently focus on Yogykarta.
Apparently, some of the people on these flights are actually
traveling to cities around Yogyakarta," Sendjaja said. "We think
Surakarta would be a good alternative destination for those
passengers."

At present, AWAIR flies to six cities domestically using four
Boeing 737 aircraft. It hopes to be operating 30 planes by 2010.

Sendjaja said the company would also try to secure a license
to fly to Singapore.

The budget airline was denied a license to land in Singapore
in January because it is a low-cost flier. The company suffered
millions of dollars in losses when it had to refund some 6,000
canceled bookings for flights to the island-state.

"We filed a second application earlier this week after
ensuring we met all the requirements. Hopefully, Singapore will
not add additional requirements," he said.

Sendjaja said that if required, the budget carrier would
operate as a "boutique" airline by adding snacks and services
that it normally does not offer on domestic flights to cut down
costs.

The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Sendjaja said,
declared that it would not issue permits to budget airlines from
Indonesia because Singapore's low-cost airlines had been denied
landing permits in four Indonesian cities.

However, fellow Indonesian carrier AdamAir obtained a license
from Singapore by operating as a "boutique airline".

"AdamAir got the license fairly. We are simply aiming at a
niche market by providing in-flight services that are not as
costly as premium airlines," AdamAir chief communications officer
Dave F. Laksono said earlier.

Sendjaja said AWAIR's being denied a permit to enter
Singapore's airspace had a lot to do with an earlier policy by
Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation.

The ministry did not allow Singaporean budget airlines JetStar
and Tiger Air to land at airports in Jakarta, Surabaya in East
Java, Medan in South Sumatra and Denpasar in Bali.

It said Indonesia had to impose flight restrictions on
Singaporean budget carriers to protect the country's fledgling
airline industry.

China and Indonesia have placed similar restrictions on the
other country's budget carriers. Indonesian budget airlines are
barred from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, while Chinese low-
cost carriers cannot fly into Surakarta, Balikpapan or Pontianak.