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View all search resultsWings Air opens Batam 'Silangit route
The huge market potential of Silangit Airport, located closely to seven regencies in North Sumatra, has prompted Wings Air, a Lion Air feeder company, to open a new route from Batam, Lion Airâs MRO home base
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T
he huge market potential of Silangit Airport, located closely to seven regencies in North Sumatra, has prompted Wings Air, a Lion Air feeder company, to open a new route from Batam, Lion Air's MRO home base.
Wings Air flew on Friday its maiden flight serving the Batam-Silangit route. Lion Air Batam station manager Mahrido told The Jakarta Post on Friday that Wings Air would start operating three flights a week by using ATR 72 aircraft with a capacity of 72 passengers. Silangit is the nearest airport to a number of regencies in Tapanuli.
'Silangit Airport is nearer to Lake Toba, where the tourism potential could be developed, as a result of arrivals of foreign tourists, or passengers on connecting flights from Batam and other major cities in Indonesia. We see the potential as quite promising,' said Mahrido.
According to him, Wings Air will serve the new route every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. A flight will depart from Batam at 8:30 a.m. and arrive at Silangit at 10:10 a.m., with the return flight from Silangit leaving at 10:35 a.m. and arrive in Batam at 12:15 p.m.
'Wings Air only serves scheduled flights and not chartered flights. We see a huge market from Batam to Medan, so the potential to Silangit is quite promising, because most of the passengers traveling to Medan from Batam have to continue their journey to Tapanuli by bus,' said Mahrido.
'The new route, is also aimed at targeting transit passengers and developing the tourism potential in Lake Toba,' said Mahrido.
Separately, Batam Free Trade Zone Management Agency (BP FTZ) spokesman and One-Roof Integrated Services (PTSP) director Dwi Djoko Wiwoho said that his agency would like to expand Batam's Hang Nadim Airport, as the airport already serves various direct routes connecting Sumatra, Java and Kalimantan.
'We will continue to expand Hang Nadim Airport, which has a capacity of 3.3 million passengers annually. The figure is more than we expected,' said Djoko, adding based on the final design of Hang Nadim Airport, it could ultimately accommodate 8.3 million passengers annually.
Hang Nadim Airport, which is equipped with a runway stretching more than 4,000 meters, was built by BP FTZ and is the only commercial airport managed exclusively by BP FTZ as the airports in Indonesia are managed by state-run airport management firm Angkasa Pura I and Angkasa Pura II.
