INDONESIAN budget carriers Lion Air and Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) are expanding their regional and international networks to keep up with growing traffic from the country.
Lion Air launched its direct Jakarta-Medina (Saudi Arabia) service on April 9. This is the second Saudi Arabian city after Jeddah that the airline flies to. The twice-weekly service uses Boeing 747-400 aircraft, with 506 seats in a two-class, double-deck configuration. It also easily connects with Lion Air’s domestic routes.
Lion Air general affairs director Edward Sirait, said: “The service will provide convenience, especially for Muslim travellers on hajj or umrah, as the document processing here is much faster than at the King Abdul Aziz Airport, which is usually packed.”
On the other hand, Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) is planning to open a Medan-Singapore and Surabaya-Medan route mid-year.
IAA president director Dharmadi was quoted by the Bisnis Indonesia daily as saying: “The opening of the services is to respond to the high traffic demand and to optimise the (region
