LION AIR BEGINS FLYING JAKARTA-JEDDA ROUTE

Jakarta, Nov 7 (ANTARA) - Lion Air, Indonesia's largest private airline, opened a regular, twice-a-week service linking Jakarta and Jedda (Saudi Arabia) on Saturday.

"We fly the route using two Boeing 747-400s, each having a seating capacity for 506 passengers, 22 in business class and 484 in economy class," Lion Air Commercial Director Achmad Hasan said on the sidelines of a function to mark the airline's maiden flight to Jedda from Soekarno-Hatta airport.

Lion Air is the first Indonesian private airline to fly to Saudi Arabia. So far, only state-owned Garuda Indonesia had been operating scheduled flights from Indonesia to Saudi Arabia.

It would take nine-and-a-half hours for Lion Air planes to fly from Jakarta to Jedda, Lion Air General Affairs Director Edward Sirait said.

The planes depart from Soerkarno-Hatta airport at 07.30 a.m. and arrive in Jedda at 01.00 p.m. From Jedda they depart at 02.45 p.m. and arrive in Jakarta at 04.15 a.m. the following day, he said.