R

egional airline Silk Air commenced a route linking city-state Singapore with Bandung on Tuesday, as two Malaysian airlines brought their flight routes to the West Java provincial capital to an end.

Silk Air’s maiden flight, with 70 passengers on board, including the Singapore Ambassador to Indonesia, Ashok Mirpuri, and Silk Air chief executive Marvin Tan arrived at Husein Sastranegara International Airport at 4:23 p.m.

Tan said that Bandung was Silk Air’s ninth destination in Indonesia, after the subsidiary of Singapore Airlines opened its eighth route linking Changi with Sultan Syarif Kasim II Airport in Pekanbaru, Riau, in February.

“This is our strong commitment to the air travel industry in Bandung, and to strengthen the links between two countries in tourism and business connections. Factory outlets are always wonderful for Singaporeans, as good as natural attractions, like Tangkuban Parahu,” Tan said after landing.

Meanwhile, airport head of operations, Soetrisno, said that Silk Air had added another choice for passengers traveling the Bandung-Singapore route, in addition to Air Asia and Batavia Air.

Tan said that Silk Air gave a different experience to customers, since they could enjoy fully serviced, premium air travel in economy or business classes.

Passengers can fly to 37 cities in 11 countries throughout Asia and Europe, as Silk Air is connected to the network of Singapore Airlines, he added.

However, Tan did not not set a target in terms of customer levels, saying “the higher, the better”.

“We have to work very hard to get our customers to depend on our value. Talking about pricing, we have to be competitive. It depends on how the market grows,” he said.

Initially, Silk Air will fly three times a week on Tuesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. Starting on Oct. 30, the airline will fly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Soetrisno said that the airlines abandoning the Bandung route were flag carrier Malaysia Airlines and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Firefly.

Malaysia Airlines started servicing the route in July, but abandoned the Bandung-Kuala Lumpur route on Oct. 4, while Firefly started the Bandung-Johor Bahru route in August and stopped operation on Oct. 2.

Soetrisno said that both airlines had a average load factor of 50 to 60 percent.