ID :
31163
Wed, 11/19/2008 - 22:02
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/31163
The shortlink copeid
LION AIR TO OPEN JAKARTA-JEDDAH SERVICE IN MARCH 2009
Jakarta, Nov 19 (ANTARA) - National airline company Lion Air will open a Jakarta-Jeddah flight route in March next year, its president director, Rusdi Kirana, said.
"Lion Air has secured licenses from the two countries to open the flight route but we still have to prepare the needed personnel and ground handling facilities before the service can be started in March next year," Kirana said here on Wednesday.
Lion Air had previously planned to begin serving the route this year, following an agreement between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to increase the frequency of Jakarta-Jeddah flights from eight to 24 per week.
Kirana made the remarks after signing an agreement on the purchase 20 light transport planes from France's ATR on the sidelines of an Indonesian defense and aviation expo here on Wednesday.
The purchase agreement worth US$380 million was signed by Kirana and ATR's Vice Marketing Director Jacques Desbarats in the presence of Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Kirana said Lion actually wanted to serve the Jakarta-Jeddah route initially with 10 flights per week but in March 2009 it would be able to conduct only seven flights per week.
It was earlier reported Lion Air had applied for 10 flights per week to Saudi Arabia consisting of six flights to Jeddah and four flights to Riyadh.
He said that the type of planes that would be used to serve the route could be B-747 or B-777. "If the two types of airplane are not used we will possibly use the B 737-900ER type," he added.
Kirana said Saudi Arabia was a promising flight destination because the country was constantly attracting many Indonesian workers (TKI), hajj pilgrims, businessmen and tourists.
"The number of air travelers between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia has been recorded at 50,000 per month," he said.
"Lion Air has secured licenses from the two countries to open the flight route but we still have to prepare the needed personnel and ground handling facilities before the service can be started in March next year," Kirana said here on Wednesday.
Lion Air had previously planned to begin serving the route this year, following an agreement between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia to increase the frequency of Jakarta-Jeddah flights from eight to 24 per week.
Kirana made the remarks after signing an agreement on the purchase 20 light transport planes from France's ATR on the sidelines of an Indonesian defense and aviation expo here on Wednesday.
The purchase agreement worth US$380 million was signed by Kirana and ATR's Vice Marketing Director Jacques Desbarats in the presence of Vice President Jusuf Kalla.
Kirana said Lion actually wanted to serve the Jakarta-Jeddah route initially with 10 flights per week but in March 2009 it would be able to conduct only seven flights per week.
It was earlier reported Lion Air had applied for 10 flights per week to Saudi Arabia consisting of six flights to Jeddah and four flights to Riyadh.
He said that the type of planes that would be used to serve the route could be B-747 or B-777. "If the two types of airplane are not used we will possibly use the B 737-900ER type," he added.
Kirana said Saudi Arabia was a promising flight destination because the country was constantly attracting many Indonesian workers (TKI), hajj pilgrims, businessmen and tourists.
"The number of air travelers between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia has been recorded at 50,000 per month," he said.
