Lion eyes more routes after launching maiden flight to Riau

Lion eyes more routes after launching maiden flight to Riau

PEKANBARU, Riau (JP): Private air carrier PT Lion Mentari
Airlines plans to open new routes to Singapore and Malaysia from
several cities in Indonesia after launching its maiden flight
from Jakarta to Pekanbaru on Saturday.

Lion's marketing director Yoen Khang said here that the
airline will start servicing direct flights to Singapore from
Pekanbaru, Riau and vice versa on Oct. 14, and direct flights on
the Kuala Lumpur-Surabaya, East Java route in November.

"The flight from Pekanbaru to Singapore is targeted toward
European and Korean expatriates working in Pekanbaru, while the
flights from Surabaya to Kuala Lumpur are aimed toward Indonesian
workers in Malaysia," Khang said in a ceremony to mark the
airlines' maiden flight from Jakarta to Pekanbaru.

The Kuala Lumpur-Surabaya route is currently being serviced by
Malaysia Airlines (MAS), while the Singapore-Pekanbaru route used
to be serviced by SilkAir.

SilkAir stopped service on the route in May this year and
demands for flights to Singapore from Pekanbaru have been
mounting ever since, Khang said.

"There is a high demand from employees of Caltex, Indah Kiat,
and RAPP for direct flights to Singapore," he said referring to
Riau-based oil company PT Caltex, and pulp and paper companies PT
Indah Kiat Pulp and Paper, and PT Riau Andalan Pulp and Paper.

Khang said that after SilkAir abandoned the route, expatriates
working in Pekanbaru had to go via Batam, approximately 312
kilometers northeast of Pekanbaru, to Singapore.

SilkAir, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines Ltd., closed the
Singapore-Pekanbaru route when the company decided to update its
Fokker airplanes to quieter, but wider, Airbuses which could not
be adapted to the 30-meter-wide runway of the Sutan Syarif Kasim
II International Airport in Pekanbaru.

Lion's director of operations Capt. Roy D. Lumbuun said he
expected the load factor for the Pekanbaru-Singapore flight to
average 80 percent.

Khang said the company invested more than 10 percent of its
total investment of Rp 80 billion ($9.4 million) for the
Singapore flight.

The flights to Singapore would be serviced four times a week
on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, and would cost about
$175 to $200 a flight, he said.

"We (Lion) cannot compete with bigger airlines in the fat
routes, therefore we are taking the market in leaner but high
potential routes," Khang said.

Fat routes are routes that could derive more than 200,000
passengers a year, while lean routes are those with less than
100,000 passengers a year.

According to Khang, the new flight service connecting Jakarta
and Pekanbaru, using the Boeing 737-200 aircraft, will depart
from the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta at 10:40
a.m. on a daily basis, and at 4:15 p.m. from the Sutan Syarif
Kasim II in Pekanbaru.

It was established as a way of introducing Lion Airlines to
the Riau public and "prepare" the locals for the planned
Singapore-Pekanbaru flights, Khang said.

Lion, which had started its operations in June with the
Jakarta-Pontianak, West Kalimantan route, said it had ordered the
lease of four Boeing 737 aircraft in line with its expanding
operations.

The first delivery of the aircraft would be made in November
with the rest to arrive in stages until January, Khang said.

The additional aircraft would service the Surabaya-Kuala
Lumpur flights, as well as the upcoming Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur, and
Medan, North Sumatra-Kuala Lumpur flights, he said. (10)