Lion Air of world`s fastest growing airlines

Indonesia`s largest private airline company, the Lion Air, becomes one of the world`s fastest growing carrier as it goes into the global aviation spotlight with record deals to buy Airbus planes.

Airbus in Paris on Monday, March 18, 2013, announced that a record order worth 18.4 billion euros, (US$24 billion) from Lion Air for 234 medium-range A320 jets.

Lion Air also gave Boeing its largest-ever order when it finalized a deal for 230 planes last year.

Commenting on the US$24 billion deal, inked by Lion Air to buy 234 Airbus planes, Coordinating Minister for Economy Hatta Rajasa said here on Thursday that it would push Indonesia`s economic growth.

"Because of the plane import, the capital goods will increase and push the economic growth," the economic minister said at the Finance Ministry office here on Thursday.

Besides, Hatta Rajasa further added that spare parts and plane maintenance will certainly increase as part of economic development.

"If the import increases, the trade balance deficit will certainly rise. The important thing is that if the fuel oil import is controlled, the non-oil and gas trade balance can be offset," Hatta said.

He also expressed his optimism that investment in Indonesia will increase with the target of Rp390 trillion in 2013 could be reached.

The economic minister added that the plane import is part of

the connectivity development in Indonesia which is made up of thousands of islands.

"The plane import is part of inter-island connectivity development across Indonesia, although the plane procurement will be made in stages in accordance with airport capacity in the country," the economic minister noted.

According to Lion Air CEO Rusdi Kirana, the company has ordered 109 A320ne, 65 A321neo and 60 A320ceo.

"This is the first Airbus order by Lion Air Group and the biggest that has ever been made by Lion Air," Rusdi said in Paris on Monday, adding that the order was made on basis of a positive trend of passengers and economic growth in Indonesia and the Asia Pacific region.

According to him, the first six planes will be delivered in mid-2014 to service routes in Asia and the Pacific.

Rusdi said Lion expects to have ordered 1,000 planes in the next few years.

"Those aircraft were targeted to expand our airline in the Asia-Pacific region. We are not satisfied just to develop our business domestically. We will go international, especially with the emergence of the open skies policy in the Asia-Pacific," he noted.

Lion Air planes started flying in 2000, about a year before AirAsia.

According to Winnipeg Free Press in its website www.winnipegfreepress.com, Lion Air is taking the battle for Asia`s budget-minded travelers to the backyard of the airline that helped pioneer low cost flights in the region.

It said the Malaysia-based airline and its CEO Tony Fernandes pioneered low-cost air travel in Southeast Asia, opening up skies previously dominated by full service carriers such as Singapore Airlines, Malaysian Airlines and Thai Airways.

These airlines today have their own low cost offshoots to vie with AirAsia.

AirAsia also has spread its wings with affiliates in Indonesia, Philippines, Japan, Thailand and India.

And Lion Air, which has relied mainly on the Indonesian market for its growth, now wants a slice of global aviation.

It is banned from flying to Europe due to broader safety lapses in the Indonesian airline industry but this is expected to change with its new plane orders.

Lion Air is buying 169 A320s and 65 A321 jets. The first planes will be delivered in 2014 and most of them will be outfitted with a new, more fuel-efficient engine that Airbus has recently developed.

Meanwhile, AFP reported that French President Francois Hollande said a deal that he described as the biggest in the history of civil aviation would create 5,000 jobs in France over the next 10 years.

Monday`s agreement, hailed as "historic" by Hollande, was signed at the president`s official residence, the Elysee Palace, by Airbus head Fabrice Bregier and his Lion Air counterpart Rusdi Kirana.

Lion Air is to buy 60 classic A320 planes. The rest of the contract involves the new, more fuel-efficient Neo version of the A320 series, which has a catalogue price tag of more than $100 million, though discounts are common for large orders.

According to the Elysee, the A320s currently under production will be delivered from next year while the Neos will be supplied from 2016.

"These are impressive figures which honor European industry and bear witness to the vitality of the Indonesian industry," AFP quoted Hollande as saying.

He said Airbus is the pride of France and Europe, and it is one of the pillars of our economy and directly employs 24,000 people.

Airbus was the first in the aerospace industry to receive International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) 14001 environmental certification, covering all of the company`s production sites, as well as its jetliner products

Source: ANTARA