Lion Airlines plans to expand regional routes

Lion Airlines plans to expand regional routes

JAKARTA (JP): Private air carrier PT Lion Mentari Airlines
plans to open regional routes to East Timor, Taiwan, South Korea
and India this year in a bid to further strengthen its foothold
in the regional airline industry.

Lion Airlines president Rusdi Kirana said here on Monday that
the airline would commence its daily flights from Denpasar to
Dili, East Timor on May 23.

On July 1, the airline will inaugurate its flights from
Denpasar, Taipei and Seoul four times a week, he said, adding
that its international flights linking Kuala Lumpur, Medan and
Madras in India would commence in October.

"We're optimistic that we will receive a good response from
the people in those countries," Rusdi told reporters prior to the
signing of an agreement between Lion Airlines and 42 Malaysian
travel agents.

The airline, which started its service in June last year,
presently flies to Kuala Lumpur from Surabaya and Jakarta daily,
and to Penang from Medan daily. It also provides flights from
Pekanbaru and Singapore three times a week.

The airline's domestic routes include flights from Jakarta to
Pekan Baru, and Pekan Baru to Batam daily.

Rusdi said that flights from several cities in Indonesia to
Malaysia had received a positive response from travelers, with
an average load factor of between 70 percent and 90 percent.

"We're prioritizing serving international routes...we're ready
to challenge existing international airlines," he said.

He said that Lion would offer airfares about 10 percent lower
in price than other airlines tickets for all flights during
certain periods in order to attract more passengers.

He said that the airline would also open a new domestic route
linking Surabaya to Denpasar daily to connect the existing Kuala
Lumpur-Surabaya route and the planned Denpasar-Dili flight. The
extended routes will be served by the same airplane.

The Russian airplane YAK-42D seats 120 that will serve the
extended routes, will depart from Kuala Lumpur at 8 a.m. on a
daily basis, and at 06:15 a.m. from Dili, he said.

Rusdi added that the schedule for the flights from Denpasar to
Seoul and from Kuala Lumpur to Madras, are to be served by a
newly rented Airbus 310-300, which will be issued later this
month.

Lion recently rented two Airbus A310-300s and two McDonald
Douglas MD-82s from Singapore-based airlines, Regent Air, to
accompany the existing five YAK-42Ds and one Boeing B737-200.

Rusdi said, the new planes, which arrived last month, were
rented by Lion Airlines for 48 months with a leasing fee of
US$2,500 an hour for an A300-310 and $2,000 an hour for an MD82.

He added that Lion Airlines would use the MD-82s to serve the
planned domestic routes.

"We plan to open new routes; Jakarta to Medan, Jakarta to
Balikpapan, Surabaya to Balikpapan, Surabaya to Manado via
Makassar, in October," he added. (05)