Privately owned Mandala Airlines is gearing up to increase its market share in the country’s growing low-cost carrier industry by putting into operation up to 15 Airbus 320s until 2014.
JAKARTA- Mandala’s commercial director, Brata Rafly, said the company would use the new aircraft to expand the airline’s domestic network, especially from cities in Java and Sumatra, as well as its international network.
“The healthy economy has led to continued growth in Indonesia’s aviation market, particularly in the western part of our country,” Brata said at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on the sidelines of the fifth A-320 delivery ceremony last Monday.
“After recently connecting Padang in West Sumatra to Jakarta and Singapore, we plan to connect more emerging cities in Sumatra, such as Pekanbaru [Riau] to the capital city and Singapore in 2013.”
On Dec. 1, Mandala opened four new routes linking the capital cities of West Sumatra and Bali with major cities in Indonesia and Singapore. The routes are: Padang–Jakarta, Padang–Singapore, Denpasar–Surabaya, and Denpasar–Singapore.
Mandala plans with its parent company Tiger Airways to implement joint code sharing to ease connectivity between the two airlines. Mandala customers can fly to Tiger destinations, like India, with ease by taking off on a Mandala flight.
He also said that the airline planned to have 25 aircraft in operation by the end of 2015 to accommodate surging demand from both leisure and business travelers.
In addition, Mandala commenced multi-leg flights starting on Jan. 4 with its fifth A-320 connecting Surabaya, East Java with Jakarta, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur.The aircraft would fly from Jakarta to Surabaya and then continue on to Singapore. Before continuing on the third leg to the Malaysian capital, the aircraft would first return to Surabaya. From Kuala Lumpur, the A-320 would fly to Surabaya and then come back to Jakarta, he explained.
Mandala is owned by the Saratoga Group and Tiger Airways, which hold 51.3 percent and 33 percent, respectively, of the airline’s shares. The remaining 15.7 percent is held by previous shareholders and creditors of Mandala.
(Source: the Jakarta Post)
Luc Citrinot a French national is a freelance journalist and consultant in tourism and air transport with over 20 years experience. Based in Paris and Bangkok, he works for various travel and air transport trade publications in Europe and Asia.
