Lion Air to charge more for S'pore trip

Lion Air to charge more for S'pore trip

Agence France-Presse, Singapore

An Indonesian no-frills airline starting flights between Jakarta and Singapore this month is charging a higher fare after a misunderstanding on the price to be charged, a report said Tuesday.

Lion Air spokesman Hasyim Arsal said he had been misunderstood by news reports which quoted him last month as saying that the cost for a round-trip ticket was "$90."

"I meant US$90, not S$90. It was a case of miscommunication," Arsal was quoted as saying in the Straits Times on Tuesday.

$90 at the current exchange rate is equivalent to S$156.6.

Including taxes, a return Singapore-Jakarta ticket on Lion Air would cost $218, which is higher than the cheapest available seat of $199 on Kuwait Airways, the newspaper said.

Both prices are still cheaper when compared with a Singapore Airlines' standard fare for the same route of about $520.

Lion Air plans to start the daily Singapore-Jakarta flights on Nov. 18.

The airline is part-owned by Indonesian businessman Rusdi Kirana and has run a successful budget operation for the past three years, with the carrier now flying to more than 30 destinations in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Low-cost airlines have emerged as a potentially lucrative business for short-haul flights in Asia, following the footsteps of their predecessors in Europe and the United States.

Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia last month started flights between Kuala Lumpur and Johore state near Singapore and plans to further expand within the region.