What pandemic? Indonesian multi-millionaire launches new airline
Indonesian businessman Rusdi Kirana, founder of Lion Air with a net worth of around $835 million, is in the process of launching Super Air Jet, an independent carrier which already has a fleet of one single leased plane with logo and name painted in the new company’s brownish colours.
Not much information has come out on the new airline, only that it would position itself as another low-cost cost airline and would try to attract a target group of “tech-savvy millennials” as primary customers to start flying when travel can resume after the Covid-19 pandemic has subsided.
Super Air Jet said it will, as a start, operate the new Airbus 320-200 with a maxed-out configuration of 180 economy class seats.
“Super-low cost” segment addressed
For this clientele, the airline plans to introduce a “super low-cost” segment to Indonesia’s air travel market, aiming specifically to cater to the young air travel customers, seeking to offer “the cheapest airline services possible.”
Demand could be there since almost half of the Indonesian population today is younger than 30 years old, according to the country’s statistic office.
It is not known yet to where Super Air Jet plans to fly and whether it has its paperwork together. But it will probably have to choose destinations wisely amid domestic competition from Lion Air, Wings Air and Batik Air, apart from full-service carrier Garuda Indonesia and its budget unit Citilink Indonesia. AirAsia Indonesia and Sriwijaya Air are also in the market, as are a couple of regional carriers in vast archipelago.
Lion Air Group and Garuda today share between them more than 89 per cent of Indonesia’s domestic air travel, Transportation Ministry’s data showed.
It is also not known who the investors behind the new airline are, only that its president director Ari Azhari previously was a director at Lion Air. But there is no business connection to Lion Air at all, Azhari said.
Future of the aviation market remains unclear
And it also remains a bet on how the aviation market recovers in the new post-pandemic normal. While travel demand will certainly be there, many people will generally have less money to travel as a result of the economic slowdown. In addition, airlines are in a bad shape, both financially and with regards to their parked planes.
The number of airline passengers in Indonesia dropped 58 per cent to just 32.3 million people last year from 76.7 million in 2019 due to travel restrictions put in place by the government to curb the Covid-19 spread. And this year so far has not been better, as it is clearly the case.
Indonesian businessman Rusdi Kirana, founder of Lion Air with a net worth of around $835 million, is in the process of launching Super Air Jet, an independent carrier which already has a fleet of one single leased plane with logo and name painted in the new company’s brownish colours. Not much information has come out on the new airline, only that it would position itself as another low-cost cost airline and would try to attract a target group of “tech-savvy millennials” as primary customers to start flying when travel can resume after the Covid-19 pandemic has subsided. Super Air Jet...
Indonesian businessman Rusdi Kirana, founder of Lion Air with a net worth of around $835 million, is in the process of launching Super Air Jet, an independent carrier which already has a fleet of one single leased plane with logo and name painted in the new company’s brownish colours.
Not much information has come out on the new airline, only that it would position itself as another low-cost cost airline and would try to attract a target group of “tech-savvy millennials” as primary customers to start flying when travel can resume after the Covid-19 pandemic has subsided.
Super Air Jet said it will, as a start, operate the new Airbus 320-200 with a maxed-out configuration of 180 economy class seats.
“Super-low cost” segment addressed
For this clientele, the airline plans to introduce a “super low-cost” segment to Indonesia’s air travel market, aiming specifically to cater to the young air travel customers, seeking to offer “the cheapest airline services possible.”
Demand could be there since almost half of the Indonesian population today is younger than 30 years old, according to the country’s statistic office.
It is not known yet to where Super Air Jet plans to fly and whether it has its paperwork together. But it will probably have to choose destinations wisely amid domestic competition from Lion Air, Wings Air and Batik Air, apart from full-service carrier Garuda Indonesia and its budget unit Citilink Indonesia. AirAsia Indonesia and Sriwijaya Air are also in the market, as are a couple of regional carriers in vast archipelago.
Lion Air Group and Garuda today share between them more than 89 per cent of Indonesia’s domestic air travel, Transportation Ministry’s data showed.
It is also not known who the investors behind the new airline are, only that its president director Ari Azhari previously was a director at Lion Air. But there is no business connection to Lion Air at all, Azhari said.
Future of the aviation market remains unclear
And it also remains a bet on how the aviation market recovers in the new post-pandemic normal. While travel demand will certainly be there, many people will generally have less money to travel as a result of the economic slowdown. In addition, airlines are in a bad shape, both financially and with regards to their parked planes.
The number of airline passengers in Indonesia dropped 58 per cent to just 32.3 million people last year from 76.7 million in 2019 due to travel restrictions put in place by the government to curb the Covid-19 spread. And this year so far has not been better, as it is clearly the case.
