Rupiah Weakens and Operational Costs Rise, Lion Group Claims Flight Demand Remains High
JAKARTA — Lion Group remains optimistic regarding the prospects of the national aviation industry, despite the weakening rupiah and rising flight operational costs, including the price of avtur (aviation fuel).
Danang Mandala Prihantoro, Corporate Communications Strategic at PT Lion Air (Lion Group), stated that public demand for travel remains high. Air travel demand continues to be supported by needs for tourism, business, education, and religious pilgrimages.
Danang noted that the high interest in travelling is one of the reasons why Lion Group, in collaboration with BookCabin, is hosting the BookCabin Travel Fair 2026 in several major cities across Indonesia.
“We are presenting the BookCabin Travel Fair because we see that public demand for air travel remains very high, whether for tourism, school holidays, peak seasons, or business trips. We are optimistic that the trend of travelling by plane will continue to grow,” Danang said in Jakarta on Tuesday (2/6/2026).
However, air travel demand continues to show a positive trend. “We are actually currently entering the low season. Regardless of various existing economic challenges, we see that the public still has a need to travel. Therefore, we are striving to provide various solutions so that customers can still obtain tickets according to their budgets,” he added.
Lion Group is working to maintain service affordability through various promotional programmes. These include ticket discounts, Cabin Points cashback, and special offers through the BookCabin platform.
Lion Group also sees bright prospects in the Umrah pilgrimage segment. Danang stated that the public’s need for religious pilgrimage tends to remain strong even when the economy faces pressure.
“We are very optimistic regarding Umrah travel. Pilgrimage has become a necessity and an intention of the people that we must accommodate. Therefore, we continue to strengthen our flight networks and connectivity so that pilgrims from various regions can depart more easily,” he said.
Flight frequency has increased compared to previous levels, which were only six times per week. “We have increased the frequency from six to nine flights per week because we see a continuously developing market potential. With our Airbus A330-300 and A330-900neo fleet, which has a capacity of up to 433 seats per flight, we see very large growth opportunities,” concluded Danang.