Aerospace Diary

Posted by- Neelam Mathews Sept 11, 2012 Indonesia’s largest private budget airline Lion Air has entered into a joint venture with Malaysia’s National Aerospace and Defence Industries (NADI) to form a hybrid carrier, Malindo Airways. The fleet comprising 12 737-900ER will start flying by mid- 2013. KLIA will be the base for the carrier that will fly ASEAN and domestic routes. NADI will hold 51% in the new carrier and Lion 49%. Chandran Ramamuthy of Lion Air will head the new venture. This follows AirAsia’s recent acquisition of Batavia Air to tap Indonesia’s 230 million population.   Malindo Air will get aircraft for its its fleet from Lion Air Group, including the 787s for possible Europe flights. It is rumored that Lion Air is looking at ordering another ten 787s. Batik Air, Lion Air’s long-haul carrier, will start its operations in March with six Boeing 737s and five 787s, a company official was quoted saying. Pix- ap...

Neelam Mathews Sept 10, 2012 Indonesia’s Transportation Ministry has  issued a flight permit to a new, full-service airline, Batik Air, a subsidiary of the country’s largest domestic carrier, budget, Lion Air, reports Jakarta Post. The airline has been approved to fly 66 domestic routes and 20 international routes..   Batik Air’s first flight is scheduled for March next year. Batik Air will connect Jakarta, Medan, Denpasar, and Manado to major cities in ASEAN, East Asia, and Australia,” said a company spokesman to the Post. It will use Boeing 737-900ER and the five B787s on order, the first delivery of which is expected in 2015. The new airline’s aircraft livery will use a batik motif associated with Indonesia. Lion Air’s hub is Jakarta and it has 81 aircraft  flying to 36 cities in Indonesia. It has 280  Boeing jets on order. It is likely, according to reports, that Lion Air and Malaysia's National Aerospace & Defense Industries (NADI)...