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)