Sriwijaya Air commercial director Joseph Dajoe K. Tendean said that in the future, Sriwijaya’s mobile apps would be developed into a one-stop service platform that would not only sell airline tickets, but would also provide features that can be used to book hotels, rent cars and buy tour packages.

By developing the apps into a one-stop service platform, the airline can receive additional income from the sales of tour packages and hotel rooms, he said.

“The concept and features we have in our mobile apps will be developed and our apps can help boost our ancillary revenue. In the next few weeks, we will add a hotel and accommodations booking feature and rental car booking,” said Joseph during a press briefing in Jakarta on Monday when Sriwijaya relaunched the revamped version of their app, Sriwijaya Air Mobile.

In providing the service, Sriwijaya Air Group consisting of Sriwijaya Air and Nam Air would collaborate with travel-related companies such as hotels to car rental companies under a profit-sharing scheme.

The airline’s vice president for distribution channels, digital business and cargo, Ferdian, said Sriwijaya also planned to add tour packages, with attractive airfares and hotel rates, for travelers using the mobile app. Such an offer indicates Sriwijaya’s seriousness to make its mobile app a one-stop service platform for traveling needs, he said.

“When people want to travel or take business trips, they do not need to move from one platform to another, they just need to go to the same platform. With the [package tour], passengers can get airline tickets and hotels and we will get the ancillary revenue from the service,” he said.

Ferdian said he was optimistic that Sriwijaya’s online platform would still be able to lure travelers despite the rising number of online travel agents offering similar one-stop services to travelers.

Sriwijaya Air Group is under full steam developing their products on their mobile app as an effort to provide a more seamless user experience. On Monday, Sriwijaya announced several changes and new features on Sriwijaya Air Mobile.

On the revamped app, users now can book meals and prepay for baggage in the Add On feature, which previously only had seat selection and Sriwijaya Travel Insurance choices. The app also adds Sriva (Sriwijaya Virtual Assitance), which can help customers book tickets in a chat box. There is also a Lower Price Preview for users to see price comparisons for several dates, My Trip to see their booking history and Mobile Check-In.

Sriwijaya also added a wider range of cashless payment options from credit cards and e-banking to digital wallets by partnering with OVO and LinkAja.

The improvement in products and services is expected to increase Sriwijaya Air’s ancillary revenue contribution to 8 to 10 percent of total revenues this year. Ferdian said Sriwijaya’s revenues from its ancillary business were not yet optimal as in 2018 their contribution was below 5 percent of total revenues.

The target to score more ancillary revenue itself is in line with the company’s goal to get out of the losses and difficult time of 2018 when Sriwijaya Air Group suffered a financial loss of Rp 1.2 trillion (US$86.20 million). Joseph said last year’s hard period motivated the airline to make major changes. Sriwijaya Air hopes it will book profit of Rp 300 billion this year.

“Since last year we were in a little trouble; all lines must be improved, including production and capacity management. We also make efficiencies; we closed several leaks in cost, we slashed deals that don’t really benefit us,” Joseph said.

With the current focus, Sriwijaya also decided to close several routes such as Jakarta-Banyuwangi and Merauke-Nabire. Instead, Sriwijaya opened new routes and added new flights to crowded destinations such as Medan-Surabaya and Jakarta-Manado-Sorong.

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