C

em>Citilink has rapidly developed into an important domestic carrier since it began officially operating as a separate business entity from Garuda Indonesia, sharply increasing its fleet to support its route expansion.

The Jakarta Post’s Nurfika Osman recently talked with Citilink Indonesia CEO Arif Wibowo to find out what’s in store for the new airline’s future and to understand his strategy for success in the competitive aviation business.

As a new player, what is your main agenda for the coming years to increase your market share of the local routes?

If Garuda Indonesia has the “Quantum Leap Program”, Citilink has the “Mega Leap Program”. This program is designed to be the guideline to help the airline become more competitive in the industry. This program was implemented last year, along with brand promotion. We undertook a lot of promotion alongside brand awareness activities to make more people aware of Citilink because we are the new kid on Indonesia’s air transportation block.

This year, we are going to implement a network expansion program to increase our market share. We will increase our flight frequency from 98 flights daily in 2012 to 215 flights a day by the end of 2013. We also plan to fly in some of the stores left by the defunct Batavia Air because they are quite promising. We are currently processing the routes with the Transportation Ministry.

After the domestic network expansion, we also plan to start regional flights in 2014 and 2015 to other ASEAN member countries, as part of our program to become a leading low cost carrier in 2016. By pocketing permits to fly 70 domestic and 16 regional routes from the ministry, excluding the former Batavia routes, we believe that Citilink can become a strong player in the future.

In addition, to support the Mega Leap Program, we also have a fleet expansion plan. Last year we only operated 21 aircraft — all Airbus A320s. This year, the number will increase to 35 aircraft with 5 being turboprop ATR 72-600s. Next year, we plan to operate 60 aircraft because we will put more ATR into operations to strengthen our network. By the end of 2022, we expect to operate 195 aircraft with around 120 units being A320s.

The fleet expansion is also part of our program to take advantage of the ASEAN Open Skies Policy to be implemented in 2015. Some airline operators see the open sky policy as a threat. On the contrary, we see it as an opportunity, as through this policy, we will have a better access to enter the region’s market and open bases there.

What is the biggest challenge for a new comer like Citilink to survive in the country’s tough aviation business environment?

The competition of this sector is getting tighter every day because every operator is expanding their businesses to capture the growing demand from the market. Competition is good for us and it just encourages us to do more in this business.

But, the biggest challenge I think is how to distribute our aircraft across the archipelago in order to create an effective and strong network. It is truly a challenge because to fully achieve that, we need enough airport infrastructure — such as terminals, plane parking lots and runways. We also hope that every airport can operate until midnight or 24 hours if possible because we need more air slots.

In short, we need to be able to manage this business in a good way to ensure it is sustainable and profitable.

So what is your strategy to stay ahead in the country’s LCC market competition where Lion Air, Mandala Airlines and Indonesia AirAsia also plan massive expansion strategies to win the hearts of the customers?

The key is that we have to be reliable, affordable and fun. Employing people that have a passion to better develop the aviation industry and love challenges is important, aside from that we have to deliver good on-time performance to satisfy passengers. Secondly, we need to be affordable in many aspects. During official trips, for instance, we are not going to stay in upscale hotels because of the price. A three star or economy accommodation will be enough. However, we will not compromise, not even a little bit, on safety.

Next is that we need to be different from any other airline through our brand, to make people think “Yes, Citilink is different”, because other players currently have a stronger presence. One of the ways is through our program Citilink TV where people can share their Citilink experiences, such as a marriage proposal in the air on Valentine’s Day this year — we received a lot of positive response about this video.

Moreover, we will diversify our products to create comfort to such as a passenger insurance service under the Citilink Shield, online hotel booking through Citilink Hotel and our in-flight meals Citilink Cafe. This service will also help increase our revenue.