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rivately owned Mandala Airlines is set to open three new routes next month from Pekanbaru in Riau to major cities in Indonesia and Singapore.

Mandala commercial director Brata Rafly said the routes would be Pekanbaru–Medan, Pekanbaru–Jakarta and Pekanbaru–Singapore.

“We plan to provide services from Pekanbaru on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. A new Airbus A320 to be delivered next week will serve the routes,” Brata said in Jakarta on Wednesday on the sidelines of the launch of Tigerconnect, a new service for transiting passengers at Changi Airport, Singapore, before continuing their journey to destinations offered by Singapore-based Tiger Airways such as Australia and India.

In addition, he said that Mandala had just commenced multi-leg flights with its fifth A320 aircraft connecting Surabaya, East Java with Jakarta, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur last week.

He was optimistic that the routes will further strengthen Mandala’s position as a player in Indonesia’s aviation sector.

“We also plan to operate 15 aircraft this year to better capture the growing demand from travelers,” he said.

Currently, the airline connects Jakarta with Medan, Padang, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Bangkok. It also links Medan, Padang and Denpasar to Singapore.

Mandala is owned by the Saratoga Group and Tiger Airways, which hold 51.3 percent and 33 percent of the airline’s shares, respectively. The remaining 15.7 percent is held by previous shareholders and creditors of Mandala.