ime to fly:  Cutting the ribbon to mark the delivery of two Next-Generation 737-900ER airplanes from Boeing to Sriwijaya at Boeing'€™s field airport in Seattle, US, on Thursday are (from left to right holding scissors) Sriwijaya Air executive chairman Hendry Lie, vice president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes'€™ field operations and 737 delivery program Erik T. Nelson, and Sriwijaya Air'€™s owner and CEO Chandra Lie. This is the first all-new airplane delivery for Sriwijaya Air, Indonesia'€™s third-largest carrier. (JP/Haeril Halim)

US aerospace giant Boeing officially delivered two Next-Generation 737-900ER narrow-body commercial jets worth US$200 million to Sriwijaya Air to support expansion of the domestic and international flight services of Indonesia'€™s third-largest carrier during a special ceremony in Seattle, Washington, US, on Thursday.

Thursday'€™s double delivery of the 737-900ER airplanes marks the initial phase of handing over 22 new 737 commercial jets worth $2.2 billion, expected to be fully delivered by the end of 2018, that the Jakarta-based airplane ordered from Boeing during the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget Airport, north of Paris, on June 15.

'€œI am sure that with these new airplanes Sriwijaya will become a leading player in the country'€™s aviation industry,'€ Sriwijaya Air owner and CEO Chandra Lie said during the delivery ceremony at King County International Airport, also known as Boeing Field, in Seattle on Thursday.

The two airplanes left for Jakarta right after the ceremony on Thursday and are expected to arrive on Aug. 22 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten to prepare for their initial operation in late August.

'€œWe are proud to build upon our decade-long partnership with Sriwijaya Air with this double delivery of their first all-new airplanes,'€ said Dinesh Keskar, senior vice president of Asia-Pacific and India sales with Boeing Commercial Airplanes.

'€œWith market-leading fuel efficiency and reliability and the passenger-pleasing Boeing Sky Interior, these new 737-900ERs strengthen Sriwijaya Air'€™s current fleet of 737s, with additional range, capability and comfort.'€

In addition to the 22 aircraft, in a separate agreement Sriwijaya has also planned to procure 20 of the same type of aircraft by 2017, in which 10 will be coming in 2016 and 10 in 2017, respectively.

However, Sriwijaya refused to disclose details about the values of the other 20 aircraft it has on order.

In its list of inventory, Sriwijaya has a total of 43 airplanes including the newly bought 737-900ERs. The airline saw a 2.8 percent decline in passenger numbers in the first half of this year, while after the arrival of the two commercial jets, Sriwijaya expects to see an 8 percent rise in passenger numbers in the second half of this year.

'€œWe believe that we can reach the target,'€ the commercial advisor of Sriwijaya Air, Franky Gan, said, adding that Sriwijaya would open new domestic routes in the future, but he refused to disclose details of the plan.

Sriwijaya said in order to reach the target it would increase the frequencies of flights on already existing routes, which currently serve 47 cities across the archipelago, including the Jakarta-Manado, Jakarta-Kupang and Jakarta-Sorong routes.

In addition to international flights, in early 2014 Sriwijaya began flying to Beijing, Hangzhou, Guilin, Ningbo, Guangzhou, Nanking, Chengdu, Chongqing and Pudong from Denpasar in Bali. In the near future, the airline will add other Chinese destinations reached from Denpasar, including Wuhan, Meixian and Changsa.

Those destinations in China have helped the airline boost its revenues, as during the first half of 2014, 15 percent of the airline'€™s revenues came in US dollars. In addition to the Chinese destinations, Sriwijaya also flies to Penang, Terengganu and Ipoh in neighboring Malaysia and Dili in Timor Leste.

Sriwijaya Air corporate communications senior manager Agus Soedjono said that in the first half of 2015, Sriwijaya and its sister airline Nam Air performed well in terms of on-time performance (OTP).

NAM Air ranked first with 94 percent OTP, while Sriwijaya managed to secure 85 percent OTP, putting it in fourth place after full-service carrier Batik Air and national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, which are respectively in the second and third positions.

In 2012, Sriwijaya stood at 79.01 OTP, while in 2013 and 2014, it managed to reach 82.22 percent and 84.36 percent OTP, respectively.

Sriwijaya is the third largest carrier in the country by market share after the privately owned Lion Air and Garuda.

According to data from the Transportation Ministry, Sriwijaya Air currently has a 13.2 percent market share of the country'€™s scheduled flights, behind Lion Air and Garuda with 41 percent and 22 percent.

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