PACIFIC Royale Airways, a new Indonesian full-service carrier, began domestic operations on June 11, 2012.
Operating a fleet of two Fokker 50 aircraft, the airline’s domestic schedule includes daily flights linking Semarang to Bandung, Pekanbaru and Surabaya. The routes linking Kerinci to Jambi and Padang are each served four times weekly.
Out of Batam, Pacific Royale operates daily flights to Pekanbaru and thrice weekly to Jambi.
Pacific Royale Airways has been licensed by Indonesian civil aviation authorities to operate a total of 62 domestic and 11 international routes (including to India and China) from bases in Batam, Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya.
Meanwhile, the airline is expected to add three more F50s, four Airbus A320s and one A330-300 to its fleet. Though no time frame has been set for the delivery of these aircraft, Indonesian law requires start-up airlines to quickly establish a minimum fleet size of 10 planes.
Pacific Royale Airways is owned by an Indonesian businesswoman, Gunami Gunawan (51 per cent), and an Indian investor, Tarun Trikha (49 per cent) – who has been appointed its chairman. An initial US$60 million has been invested in the joint venture.
Samudra Sukardi has been appointed as the airline’s president & CEO.
