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)