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rivate carrier PT ASI Pudjiastuti Aviation (Susi Air) is targeting 10 percent business growth this year amid the fluctuation of the rupiah and is planning to buy 10 aircraft to strengthen its fleet.

Susi Pudjiastuti, the president director and owner of the airline, said her company planned to buy six single-engine aircraft and four twin-engine aircraft this year with a total investment of up to US$50 million, by seeking loans from two state-owned lenders, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) and Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI).

'Last year, the company transported around 350,000 passengers and they planned to increase the number to 10 percent, as we are aiming to add more pioneering routes this year,' Susi told reporters on Wednesday.

Susi said the company suffered Rp 20 billion ($1.7 million) in losses last year as a result of the weakening rupiah against the US dollar.

'Even though we booked a loss, our operational income actually increased. We hope we will improve our performance this year,' she said, adding that the company's revenue last year reached $40 million.

Susi said the airline would remain focused on expanding its business in pioneering flights and that the firm had not filed proposals to take over the routes of the ailing state-owned carrier PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines.

'I'm not sure whether the routes no longer served by Merpati could be served by our aircraft, as we only operate small aircraft,' she said. 'However, we already operate a lot of routes in Papua that were initially operated by Merpati, particularly those in Sorong, Wamena and Nabire that comprise of 84 routes,' she continued.

She said the company's chartered flight business had also struggled in the past few years as many companies that used to use its service had now opted to buy their own aircraft.

Therefore, the company started to shift the chartered flight business to the tourist sector, by providing flights to Raja Ampat in West Papua and Mentawai in West Sumatra, Susi said.

'In the future, we are also aiming to provide services to other tourist spots in East Nusa Tenggara [NTT],' she said.

The airline now flies its passengers to 162 destinations nationwide on a range of 49 aircraft, including the Cessna Grand Caravan C208B, Piaggio Avanto II P180, Pilatus Porter PC-6, Agusta Grand A109S, Agusta Grand AW119Ke, Diamond Twin Star DA42, and Air Tractor AT802 based in Sumatra, Java, NTT, Kalimantan, Sulawesi and Papua.

She said the company, which initially transported lobsters and other seafood for her fish processing factory, planned to go public in 2015.