Adam Air to triple fleet in three years

Monday, January 30, 2006

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

AdamAir, one of Indonesia's fledgling budget airlines, plans to almost triple the size of its fleet to 50 aircraft within three years to support the expansion of its domestic and international services.

"We procured three more Boeing 737 aircraft this month, each with a capacity of between 150 and 170 passengers," executive vice president Dave Laksono told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

The addition of the new planes has increased the airline's fleet to 20 aircraft. "We are hoping to operate 40 planes by the end of 2006," Laksono added.

He said that AdamAir, which began operations only three years ago, would lease or lease-buy the additional aircraft, all of which would be Boeing 737s, from companies in the United States and Europe.

Laksono said that with the additional aircraft, the company would be able to realize its plan to become a prominent regional player in the near future, serving a variety of international and domestic routes.

AdamAir, which currently flies to Singapore and Penang in Malaysia, will also establish routes to other cities in Malaysia, as well as Cambodia, Vietnam and East Timor, he said.

In addition, "besides adding more international routes, we will also add more services, and increase our frequencies, to cities around Indonesia this year," Laksono said.

AdamAir would open new routes to Surakarta (Central Java) and Mataram (East Nusa Tenggara) this year, and increase flight frequencies to Manado (North Sulawesi), Medan (North Sumatra), Surabaya (East Java) and Yogyakarta.

Laksono said that in order to survive in the face of increasingly stiff competition, the company was taking steps to further improve efficiency, including investing more in human resources development and aircraft equipment.

"We believe that upgrading employee skills is the best strategy for ensuring survival in the coming years," he said.

He added that last year the airline's load factor exceeded its target of 80 percent. (03)

Citilink will operate as budget airline

Friday, January 27, 2006

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia plans to spin off its low-cost unit, Citilink, as an independent company within the first semester of this year in order to keep pace with the fast-growing competition from local budget carriers.

Joseph Saul, the Garuda vice president with responsibility for Citilink, told The Jakarta Post Wednesday that by operating as an independent airline, Citilink would be better able to compete with its low-cost rivals.

"We are now discussing the possibility of leasing another 10 Airbus 319s to support the operations of the new budget airline," he said.

An extra 10 Airbus 319s, each with a capacity of between 120 and 140 passengers, would greatly augment Citilink's capacity. It currently operates a fleet of five leased Boeing 737s.

Garuda's executive vice president of finance, Alex Maneklaran, told the Post earlier that Citilink would hold a tender for the extra planes so as to secure the best deal. Citilink leases its current fleet from GECAS, the Singapore branch of an American leasing firm.

Maneklaran added that Citilink was seeking out another low-cost carrier to serve as a strategic partner so as to improve its systems and management.

With the new aircraft, Citilink will be in a position to expand its domestic services. It currently flies from Jakarta to Surabaya (East Java), Pontianak (West Kalimantan), Batam (Riau Islands), Banjarmasin (South Kalimantan), Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Mataram (West Nusa Tenggara), Pekanbaru (Riau) and Medan (North Sumatra).

"Last year, Citilink carried around 700,000 passengers. This year, we hope to carry about one million," Saul said.

According to the Transportation Ministry, Citilink currently has a 2.4 percent market share.

Maneklaran said Citilink was hoping to increase its load factor to 80 percent this year compared to 70 percent last year. "We will be profitable if we can increase the load factor to more than 75 percent," he said.

The establishment of Citilink as a low-cost division of Garuda some years ago was intended to help the national flag carrier come to grips with the growing competition from the country's budget airlines.

However, as the competition gets even fiercer, Garuda now feels the establishment of an independent low-cost carrier will be a more effective way of competing with the country's existing low-cost carriers, such as AdamAir, Lion Air, Batavia Air, Sriwijaya, Mandala, Efata Air, Lorena Airlines and Indonesia AirAsia, which is 49 percent owned by Malaysia's Air Asia, one of the most successful budget airlines in the region. (03)

Valuair starts flights to Bali

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore-based budget carrier Valuair said Thursday it will launch a three-times weekly service to Indonesia's resort island of Bali with fares starting from S$88 (US$54) for a one way trip.

The inaugural flight to Bali will start Friday, Valuair said in a statement.

"There's a great affinity with Bali for many people," said Neil Thompson, the carrier's acting chief executive.

"With the new Valuair service they can take off on Friday afternoon, returning on either the Sunday or Tuesday, maximizing their time on holidays," he said.

Valuair also flies to other Indonesian destinations including Jakarta and Surabaya.

Kartika Airlines tambah tiga armada

Taken from Antara News dated Jan. 24, 2006. So sorry folks, it is still in Bahasa Indonesia. I will do the translation later on as I will post more from Antara News.

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JAKARTA (Antara): Perusahaan penerbangan swasta nasional Kartika Airlines menargetkan akan menambah tiga armada pesawat untuk mendukung ekpansi rute penerbangan Indonesia bagian Timur.

"Saat ini kita masih memiliki dua pesawat dan tahun ini kami akan menambah tiga pesawat," kata Presiden Direktur PT Kartika Airlines, Odang Kariana ketika dihubungi di Jakarta, Selasa.

Penambahan armada pesawat Kartika Airlines, Odang menjelaskan sebenarnya telah direncanakan jauh hari dan secara kebetulan seiring dengan kebijakan pemerintah yang meminta perusahaan penerbangan diwajibkan memiliki pesawat minimal lima buah.

"Bagi perusahaan penerbangan yang telah memenuhi persyaratan tersebut, bukan suatu masalah. Namun bagi perusahaan yang belum memiliki lima armada, tentu harus mematuhi aturan itu," katanya.

Odang memperkirakan April tahun ini penambahan pesawat ketiga berhasil direalisasikan. Pesawat keempat ditargetkan Juni dan pesawat kelima, ditargetkan bulan September.

Jika selama ini Kartika Airlines masih melayani penerbangan dengan rute Indonesia bagian Barat dan Indonesia bagian Tengah, Odang mengatakan, dengan penambahan pesawat pihaknya akan mengambil rute penerbangan ke Indonesia bagian Timur.

Odang menyebutkan, penerbangan ke Indonesia bagian Timur diantaranya ke Kalimantan, Ujungpandang, dan Ambon.

Sedangkan rute ke luarnegeri, yakni ke Johor Baru dan Ipoh, Malaysia.

"Kami sudah memiliki 10 daerah tujuan penerbangan, yakni Cengkareng, Surabaya, Denpasar, Balikpapan, Tarakan, Batam, Medan, Johor Baru, Ipoh, dan Aceh," katanya.

Odang menjelaskan, Sabtu 21 Januari merupakan penerbangan perdana ke Aceh dengan pesawat boeing 737-200 berkapasitas 114 tempat duduk (seat). Rute penerbangan Banda Aceh-Medan-Batam dan Jakarta.

Lebih lanjut, perusahan penerbangan yang sudah memiliki sekitar 130 karyawan ini, setiap hari memberangkatkan satu pesawat Kartika dari Medan (Sumatera Utara) pukul 07:30 WIB, kemudian dari Banda Aceh melalui bandara Sultan Iskandar Muda berangkat
menuju Medan, pukul 08:30 WIB, selanjutnya menuju Jakarta via Batam.

Maskapai penerbangan Kartika Airlines baru beroperasi Juni 2005 setelah sebelumnya berhenti November 2004 karena kesulitan finansial.

AdamAir buka jalur penerbangan Jakarta-Manado

Taken from Antara News dated Jan. 23, 2006. So sorry folks, it is still in Bahasa Indonesia. I will do the translation later on as I will post more from Antara News.

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MANADO (Antara): Perusahaan penerbangan swasta nasional AdamAir, Senin, membuka secara resmi jalur penerbangan Jakarta-Manado melalui Surabaya, guna menambah pelayanan penerbangan ke
beberapa kota utama di Indonesia.

"AdamAir pada akhirnya dapat memulai pelayanannya kepada masyarakat Menado, setelah beberapa kali tertunda," kata Wakil Presiden Direktur AdamAir, Dave Laksono, setibanya di Bandara Sam Ratulangi, Manado, usai penerbangan perdana ke ibukota Sulut
tersebut.

Kota ini merupakan aset nasional yang sangat berharga, sehingga dengan melayani rute ini berarti kami turut berpartisipasi dalam mengakselerasikan pembangunan negeri ini, katanya.

Turut serta dalam penerbangan perdana ke Manado tersebut Presiden Komisaris AdamAir, Agung Laksono, serta beberapa pemegang saham lainnnya.

AdamAir mulai beroperasi pada tanggal 19 Desember 2003 hanya dengan 2 pesawat Boeing. Kini, 20 bulan kemudian AdamAir telah berkembang dengan pesat dan mengoperasikan 16 buah pesawat Boeing 737 seri 200, 300,400 dan 500.

Bahkan mereka telah memiliki target untuk mengoperasikan 25 buah pesawat pada akhir tahun 2005, keseluruhannya jenis Boeing 737 dari berbagai seri yang kehandalannya telah diakui dunia penerbangan internasional.

Garuda for sale?

VP sees no pride in owning ailing Garuda

Saturday, December 31, 2005

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With ailing Garuda Indonesia unlikely to get back in the black anytime soon, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, in response to the airline's privatization plan, sees little pride in the state owning a national flag carrier that keeps suffering losses.

Kalla argued that a country, via its government, should not always own an airline as the image of an airline today was not like what it was in the 1950s, when such a company was seen as a matter of national pride that had to be maintained at all costs.

"Garuda should be healthy by commercial means ... A airline today is not everything for a country. If it makes profit, it will be good for the country, but if it always suffers losses, investors should be welcome to come in," said Kalla after Friday prayers.

"There is almost no country that has a state carrier today. For example, Qantas is not owned by the Australian government and KLM (Royal Dutch Airline) is currently owned by Air France. So it is not a big deal if we don't have a (state-owned) airline," he said.

However, Kalla said that the government would not sell off the airline entirely to investors.

Kalla was responding to the current problems faced by Garuda, which recently announced a failure to pay US$50 million of its floating-rate bonds due in December following cash flow problems resulting primarily from the second bomb attacks on the resort island of Bali on Oct. 1, which badly affected its revenue.

However, the airline reaffirmed that it would continue paying interest, and aircraft leasing fees.

While the airline has made significant progress in developing a basis for presenting another debt restructuring plan to its stakeholders since commencing discussions in November, additional work was required to reconcile complex inter-creditor and governmental issues.

The Bali bombings, which killed 23 people, significantly reduced foreign tourist arrivals not only on the island but also in other parts of the country.

This year's target of six million foreign tourists has been revised down to less than 4.5 million by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, down from 5.3 million tourist arrivals in the archipelago last year.

Garuda, which controls more than 50 percent of the domestic airline market, said the bombings had substantially affected its fourth quarter revenue, and this situation was expected to continue during the first half of next year.

"In particular, the Bali bombings in October continues to have a significant impact on Garuda's cash flow and makes predicting cash available for servicing debts a very challenging task over the short term," said the airline in a press statement.

The airline also cited higher fuel prices, a weaker rupiah against the U.S. dollar, rising interest rates and increased competition as other major factors causing a further downturn in its business this year.

Due to the various problems, the airline is likely to book a widening loss of more than $70 million this year -- higher than its initial estimation of around $50 million. Last year, the company recorded a net loss of Rp 811.3 billion.

As of March, Garuda had debts amounting in total to $826 million, with the largest portion coming from the European Export Credit Agency, with the remainder in the form of promissory notes and bank loans.

At present, Garuda operates 57 aircraft serving 30 domestic routes and 20 international destinations.

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This may not be a good new year present ......... It seems that Jusuf Kalla forgets that even Singapore Airlines -- which is the dream airlines for most Indonesian travellers -- is a profitable state-owned enterprise. So, if SQ can make profits, who to blame if Garuda keeps making losses?

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I wish you all (and me too) a happy and prosperous new year. :)

I will do my best to update this blog with the latest development in Indonesian aviation

Cross your fingers.......