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rench-Italian turboprop manufacturer ATR will continue to push regional flights in Indonesia, which it calls a '€œnumber one country partner'€, pointing to the potential that lies in the country'€™s staggering number of airlines and aircraft backlog.

ATR CEO Patrick de Castelbajac said 65 aircraft from the company were underway to be delivered to its biggest customer worldwide, low-cost carrier Lion Air Group, and national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, with a backlog of 260 aircraft still to be delivered from 2015.

'€œI think aviation is one of the keys to growth in the country,'€ de Castelbajac told a press briefing recently.

At least 10 Indonesian airlines use ATR aircraft, which are used on 70 percent of the country'€™s total routes.

'€œGrowth in terms of people traveling has also been increasing,'€ he said.

The number of passengers on international flights to and from Indonesia rose to 1.3 million in December 2015, up 30.6 percent from November, outpacing the growth in domestic flight traffic, which increased by 15.16 percent to 6.8 million passengers, according to the latest data from the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).

The Indonesian Air Carriers Association (INACA) predicts passenger numbers for scheduled airlines to grow by 10 to 15 percent this year.

ATR believes the less than 100-seat turboprop aircraft fits well with the country'€™s geography, where people need to move from one island to another, boosting demand for regional flights.

Castelbajac said he still had faith in the Asian-Pacific market, particularly Southeast Asia, based on encouraging traffic growth.

International traffic at Asian-Pacific carriers grew 7.9 percent to 276.3 million passengers in 2015, according to the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA), higher than growth of 4.9 percent recorded in 2014.

ATR'€™s presence in the Asia-Pacific has grown 80 percent since 2010, according to the company'€™s data, with the region'€™s combined ATR fleet of 370 aircraft surpassing even that in the company'€™s home base Europe.

ATR acknowledged the overall economic slowdown that hit Southeast Asian countries, but saw the region as still booking high growth compared to global peers.

'€œThere are more and more people flying, as many countries here are growing fast,'€ Castelbajac said.

Indonesia itself saw economic growth slow to a six-year low of 4.8 percent last year, still handily beating developed nations'€™ growth of zero to two percent.

Lion Air Group general director Edward Sirait said ATR aircraft would be needed for the country'€™s further flight growth.

'€œBecause the airports developed by the Transportation Ministry fit that kind of aircraft characteristic, and because our market is of the commuter kind, not long haul,'€ he added.

Edward cited as examples flights from Makassar in South Sulawesi to Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi and from Denpasar in Bali to Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara.

He said that with the upcoming ATR shipment, the airline would try to open new domestic routes with the additional 14 aircraft for the company'€™s subsidiary Wings Air and another 14 for full-service airline Batik Air, pending approval from the Transportation Ministry.

The Transportation Ministry is slated to open 230 new flight routes to remote areas and establish new airports in 11 locations this year, according to state budget plans.

The ministry has said in the past it aims to develop 100 airports to accommodate jet aircraft by 2019.