Report by : Gan Yung Chyan
/ KUCINTA SETIA
Batavia Air ceased flight operations on 31 January 2013, one day after Sayacinta - Airpost visited Soekarno-Hatta International Airport for a short press interview with Kalstar Aviation and other domestic Indonesian airlines.
On 31 January, at 12 pm, Batavia Air ceased operations after the Central Jakarta Regional Court granted a bankruptcy appeal by IFLC the international aircraft lessor as the airline owed ILFC US$4,68 million in debts. The airline failed to repay ILFC after a series of financial difficulties, particularly after leasing two Airbus A330 aircraft from ILFC on 29 December 2009 on a six-year dry-lease agreement until 2015 for flights to Jeddah, Riyadh, Guangzhou and Hangzhou as well as domestic flights to Manado, Makassar, Medan and Jayapura.
Batavia Air announced bankruptcy formally to the Singapore media on 6 February 2013 as it moved its Head Office to its new Jakarta Pusat location one month after. All Batavia Air flights from Singapore to Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Pontianak were cancelled. All tickets purchased prior to the cessation of operations were either refunded or deferred to other airlines. AirAsia Indonesia took over the Singapore-Semarang-Singapore route from Batavia Air on 7 February.
Six airlines were slated to take over the entire Batavia Air route network. They include Citilink (low-fare domestic unit of Garuda Indonesia), Mandala (partner airline of Tiger Airways), Expressair and AirAsia Indonesia.
Mandala which is starting daily flights from Singapore to Pekanbaru on 14 February 2013 plans to add Pontianak and Jakarta to its Singapore route network later this year.
Lion Air has taken over Batavia Air's rights to operate the latter's flights to Kuching from Jakarta and will operate on this route in March 2013. It has also planned to start flights to Suvarnabhumi on 20 February and Cebu on 14 February after Batavia Air failed to launch new flights to the Bangkok airport in January and Cebu.
As of 9 February 2013, there are 15 active Indonesian airlines. They include Garuda Indonesia, Citilink, Merpati Nusantara, Mandala, Lion Air, Wings Air, Sriwijaya Air, Kalstar Aviation, Aviastar, Expressair, Trigana Air, Transnusa, Indonesia Air (formerly Indonesian Air Transport), Susi Air and Sky Aviation. Pacific Royale Airways which suspended flights in October 2012 and Kartika Airlines had ceased business.
/ KUCINTA SETIA
On 31 January, at 12 pm, Batavia Air ceased operations after the Central Jakarta Regional Court granted a bankruptcy appeal by IFLC the international aircraft lessor as the airline owed ILFC US$4,68 million in debts. The airline failed to repay ILFC after a series of financial difficulties, particularly after leasing two Airbus A330 aircraft from ILFC on 29 December 2009 on a six-year dry-lease agreement until 2015 for flights to Jeddah, Riyadh, Guangzhou and Hangzhou as well as domestic flights to Manado, Makassar, Medan and Jayapura.
Batavia Air announced bankruptcy formally to the Singapore media on 6 February 2013 as it moved its Head Office to its new Jakarta Pusat location one month after. All Batavia Air flights from Singapore to Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang and Pontianak were cancelled. All tickets purchased prior to the cessation of operations were either refunded or deferred to other airlines. AirAsia Indonesia took over the Singapore-Semarang-Singapore route from Batavia Air on 7 February.
Six airlines were slated to take over the entire Batavia Air route network. They include Citilink (low-fare domestic unit of Garuda Indonesia), Mandala (partner airline of Tiger Airways), Expressair and AirAsia Indonesia.
As of 9 February 2013, there are 15 active Indonesian airlines. They include Garuda Indonesia, Citilink, Merpati Nusantara, Mandala, Lion Air, Wings Air, Sriwijaya Air, Kalstar Aviation, Aviastar, Expressair, Trigana Air, Transnusa, Indonesia Air (formerly Indonesian Air Transport), Susi Air and Sky Aviation. Pacific Royale Airways which suspended flights in October 2012 and Kartika Airlines had ceased business.
While the first seven carriers are familiar names, Kalstar Aviation is the regional airline of Kalimantan, Indonesia,with commercial flights from Jakarta, Semarang, Pontianak, Surabaya to Pangkalanbun, Sampit, Banjarmasin, Sintang, Berau, Kotabaru and other six Kalimantan destinations using a fleet of Boeing B737-300, B737-500 and ATR-42-300 aircraft. It began commercial scheduled flights from Pontianak on 10 November 2008 before commencing scheduled flights from Jakarta in 2011. Initially, it only provided charter flights in partnership with Trigana Air and cargo flights under Star Cargo using Kartika Airlines aircraft.
Aviastar and Trigana Air operate charter and scheduled flights from Jakarta to remote towns of Indonesia.
Expressair is Makassar-based airline of Sulawesi with flights from Jakarta to Makassar, Sorong and Manokwari.
Transnusa is the airline of Kupang in West Timor, Indonesia. Indonesia Air is the scheduled service unit of Indonesian Air Transport with its hub in Bandung. Susi Air concentrates its business in Sumatra and Jakarta. Sky Aviation took over businesses of Linus Airways, Kartika Airlines, Riau Airlines and Pacific Royale Airways on the Riau islands, Sumatra.
With the sudden, unfortunate closure of Batavia Air's business, only Sriwijaya Air, AirAsia Indonesia, Lion Air, Mandala, Tiger Airways, Valuair, Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia fly to Jakarta from Singapore currently.
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