Lorena Air defies turbulence, set for take off by end of May

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

By the end of May, a new full-service Indonesian airline, Lorena Air, is set to have taken to the skies, serving six routes between six major cities using three leased Boeing 737-400 aircraft.

President director Eka Sari Lorena Soerbakti said Tuesday that the airline would at first fly from Jakarta to Manado (North Sulawesi), Balikpapan (East Kalimantan), Padang (West Sumatra), Palembang (South Sumatra) and Denpasar (Bali).

"Then later this year, we intend to purchase three more aircraft of a similar type as we also plan to introduce a Medan-Surabaya service," Eka said during a visit to The Jakarta Post.

The carrier is 100 percent owned by the Lorena group -- best known as a luxury bus operator on the islands of Java, Madura, Bali and Sumatra.

With Lorena boasting years of experience in the transportation business, Eka says she believes the airline has what it takes to be successful, even at a time when the country's airline industry is reeling from a series of tragic accidents.

From the disappearance of a Boeing 737-400 operated by Adam Air off Sulawesi early in the year to a Garuda Indonesia Boeing 737-400 aircraft bursting into flames after overshooting the runway at Adisucipto airport in Yogyakarta in March, a huge question mark has been left hanging over airline safety in Indonesia.

However, despite the current lack of confidence in the local aviation industry, Eka said she believed Lorena could carve out a niche and establish a place for itself in the market as a full-service carrier.

"There were 39 million domestic air passengers last year, about 3 million more than the target. And the number will continue to rise.

"The demand is there. So, I think the arrival of Lorena is timely. With all these safety concerns, the market is actually waiting for a full-service, dependable airline," Eka said.

The new airline, Eka said, had signed an agreement with Futura International Airways, a leading global charter company based in Spain, for consultancy and advisory services, including for aircraft maintenance, and pilot and flight-crew training.

Lorena was currently seeking safety certification from both the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA), the European equivalent of the FAA.

National flag-carrier Garuda Nusantara is currently the only domestic carrier that has certification from the FAA.

"We expect to have flown around 1.5 million passengers by the end of the year," Eka said, adding that the company also planned to establish overseas routes, starting with Singapore, next year.