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AirAsia to open more routes from Semarang and Makassar

Low cost carrier Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) will open more domestic and international routes from Semarang, Central Java and Makassar, South Sulawesi in the first quarter of this year to further strengthen its foothold in the country’s growing air transportation market

Nurfika Osman (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Fri, January 18, 2013

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AirAsia to open more routes from Semarang and Makassar

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ow cost carrier Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) will open more domestic and international routes from Semarang, Central Java and Makassar, South Sulawesi in the first quarter of this year to further strengthen its foothold in the country’s growing air transportation market.

IAA president director Dharmadi said that the airline would connect Semarang with Singapore, and Makassar with Surabaya, East Java; Denpasar, Bali; and Manado, North Sulawesi, as well as Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia; .

“We will commence the flight from Semarang on Feb. 7 and the other five flight services from Makassar on March. 1. We are delighted that we can link the capital city of Central Java to Singapore and strengthen our network in the eastern part of Indonesia from our hub in Makassar this year,” Dharmadi said in Jakarta on Thursday.

The airline picked Semarang because, as well as being a business center in Central Java, it also has a large ethnic Chinese community, members of which often travel to Singapore. By providing direct flights, the travelers would not need to stop over in Jakarta, he said.

IAA will fly four times a week to Singapore: on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Makassar was chosen as a hub because the city is a gateway to Eastern Indonesia and has enjoyed strong economic development in the past few years.

The airline will fly daily on the Makassar–Denpasar, Makassar–Manado and Makassar–Surabaya routes. For the Makassar–Kuala Lumpur and Makassar–Kota Kinabalu routes, they will provide three and four flights a week, respectively.

The firm will monitor demand with a view to increasing frequency on the routes.

“We believe that the six new routes will bring benefits to the economy and tourist sectors of both cities. We are proud to be part of the economic drivers in the country,” he said, adding that IAA had recently made Makassar its sixth Indonesian hub after Jakarta, Bandung, Medan, Surabaya and Denpasar.

In order to support the expansion, IAA will take delivery of 10 new Airbus A320s throughout the course of the year, which will increase its fleet to 32 aircraft. With a fleet of 32 aircraft, the airline expects to be able to carry up to 8 million passengers by the end of 2013.

“We met our target of almost 6 million passengers in 2012. We are optimistic we can reach our target again this year,” he said.

IAA plans to operate 70 aircraft over the next five years in order to tap into the country’s growing leisure and business travel markets.

In addition, the company expects to launch an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in the third quarter of this year and has appointed an underwriter. Dharmadi, however, did not elaborate on details of the plan, including the number of shares the company would float on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) or how much they expected to raise from the IPO.

He said that going public was not merely about raising funds but rather helping the company strengthen its business accountability and transparency.

According to Transportation Ministry data, IAA became the strongest international player in 2011, carrying 3.38 million passengers on international routes, or 41.58 percent of the international market share, while it carried only 181,200 passengers on domestic routes, 3 percent of the domestic share.

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