PT Lion Mentari Airlines, operating as Lion Air, is an Indonesian low-cost airline. Based in Jakarta, Indonesia, Lion Air is the country's largest privately run airline, the second largest low-cost airline in Southeast Asia after AirAsia and the second largest airline of Indonesia. The airline operates domestic as well as international routes, which connects different destinations of Indonesia to Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, India and Saudi Arabia, as well as charter routes to China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Macau, with more than 630 flights per day.
Established in 1999, Lion Air has seen tremendous growth in the past several years, having acquired over 100 aircraft with nearly 500 more on order. The airline has repeatedly broken records for largest aircraft orders, such as its $24 billion order for 234 Airbus A320 jets, as well as its $22.4 billion order for 230 competing aircraft from Boeing. The airline signed agreement with US-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing for 50 737 Max 10 passenger jets worth $6.24 billion in June, 2017. The airline is the 2nd largest customer of Boeing. It had once been criticized for poor operational management in areas such as scheduling and safety, although steps have been taken to improve its safety: on June 16, 2016, the European Union lifted the ban it had placed on Lion Air from flying into European airspace.
Lion Air operates over 100 Boeing 737-800/900ER aircraft. The airline has been characterised by its rapid expansion and the success of its low-cost business model. The airline holds minority shareholdings in associate companies based in Thailand (Thai Lion Air) and Malaysia (Malindo Air).
Video Lion Air
History
The airline was established in October 1999 by brothers Rusdi and Kusnan Kirana and started operations on 30 June 2000, when it began scheduled passenger services between Jakarta and Denpasar using a leased Boeing 737-200. It was the first low cost airline in Indonesia. The fleet was quickly expanded with the wet-lease of 5 Yakovlev Yak-42Ds, 2 McDonnell Douglas MD-82s and 2 sub-leased Airbus A310-300s. Rapid growth enabled modernisation of the fleet with Boeing 737-300 and Boeing 737-400 aircraft. In 2003 a subsidiary airline was established, Wings Air, operating flights on lower density routes. Further subsidiaries were developed including Malindo Air in Malaysia in 2012, Thai Lion Air in Thailand in 2013 and domestically, Batik Air, a full-service subsidiary, also in 2013.
The airline is planning to join IATA and therefore hoping to become the second IATA Indonesian member carrier after Garuda Indonesia. Lion Air failed, in early 2011, the initial IATA assessments for membership due to safety concerns. Lion Air and Boeing are pioneering the use of required navigation performance (RNP) procedures in Indonesia, having successfully performed validation flights at the two terrain-challenged airports of Ambon and Manado.
From 19 July 2011, Lion Air has grounded 13 planes due to sanction caused by bad on-time performance (OTP). The transportation ministry recorded that Lion Air's OTP of 66.45 percent was the worst of six airlines in an assessment conducted from January to April 2011 at 24 airports nationwide. On the other hand, airlines using Jakarta airport face considerable delays to their schedules due to runway congestion.
On 18 November 2011, the airline jointly announced with Boeing a record-setting order of 201 Boeing 737 MAX and 29 Boeing 737-900ER planes, setting the record for the world's biggest single order of 230 planes for a commercial airline worth $21.7 billion.
In January 2012, the Transportation Ministry said that it sanctioned Lion Air because some of its pilots and crew members were found in recent months to be in possession of crystal methamphetamine. In late 2011 Muhammad Nasri and two other co-pilots were arrested at a party in Tangerang; in early 2012 a pilot was caught with crystal meth in Makassar. On 4 February 2012, another Lion Air pilot was arrested following a positive urinalysis test for use of methamphetamine; he was scheduled to fly the Surabaya--Makassar--Balikpapan--Surabaya flight hours later. The licenses of the pilots and crew were revoked.
In June 2016 Lion Air was removed from the list of blacklisted airlines to fly into the EU.
Maps Lion Air
Destinations
Official Lion Air Route Map
As of January 2014, Lion Air serves a total of 120 destinations: 100 domestic and 20 international.
Fleet
The Boeing customer code for Lion Air is GP, which appears in their aircraft designation as a suffix, such as 737-8GP and 737-9GPER.
Current fleet
As of October 2017, the Lion Air fleet consists of the following aircraft:
Special Liveries
Orders
Lion Air was the launch customer for the largest variant of the Boeing 737, the 737-900ER, for which it placed an order in 2005. On 26 May 2005, Lion Air signed a preliminary agreement with Boeing for the purchase of up to 60 Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft, valued at $3.9 billion at list prices. Lion Air confirmed their order in July 2005 and became the launch customer for the Boeing 737-900ER with firm orders for 30 aircraft and options for 30 more, which were later converted into firm orders. The -900ER can carry up to 215 passengers in a single-class layout, and is powered by CFM56-7B turbofan engines. On 27 April 2007, Boeing delivered the first 737-900ER to Lion Air. The aircraft was delivered in a special dual-paint scheme that combines Lion Air's logo on its vertical stabilizer and the Boeing "Dreamliner" livery on the fuselage.
Lion Air set a world record when it placed an order for 230 aircraft from Boeing, making this the largest order in terms of aircraft ordered as well the cost of the order. In November 2011, Lion Air and Boeing announced that the airline planned to buy 29 additional Boeing 737 Next Generation and 201 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, with options for 150 more, valued at $21.7 billion at the time. A firm order was signed on 14 February 2012, with the 737 MAX aircraft identified as 737 MAX 9s, making Lion Air the launch customer for that variant. By the time of the signing, the order's value had risen to $22.4 billion at list prices, the largest aircraft order in history. Additionally, the engines for the -900ERs, CFM 56-7s, cost about $580 million and the engines for the MAXs, CFM LEAP-1Bs, cost about $4.8 billion. Deliveries of the additional NGs are to start in 2014, with the MAXs to follow in 2017.
On Monday 18 March 2013 Lion Air placed an order for 234 A320 jets with Airbus, the largest single order ever made surpassing previous record by Boeing ($22.4 Billion). The contract, which was signed at the Elysée Palace in the presence of President François Hollande and several government ministers, is worth EUR18.4 billion ($24 billion) at catalogue prices, the French presidency said.
Lion Air Group has placed an order for 50 Boeing Co. 737 Max 10 jets, valued at a list price of $6.24 billion.
Former fleet
EU aviation blacklist
Lion Air, along with Wings Air and Batik Air, was one of several Indonesian carriers banned from operating in European airspace, because of the European Commission's concerns about the Indonesian Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) ability to provide proper regulatory oversight of the country's airline industry. Lion Air was removed from the EU's blacklist on June 16, 2016 and now is allowed to fly to any EU country.
In 2000s, Lion Air began to grow and become a serious rival for Garuda Indonesia in domestic air travel in Indonesia. By mid 2015, Lion Air rules Indonesia's domestic air travel market share by 41.6 percent, while Garuda Indonesia came in second with 23.5 percent share. Sriwijaya Air came in third with a market share of 10.4 percent, followed by Garuda's low-cost subsidiary Citilink (8.9 percent) and Lion Air's regional flight service Wings Air (4.7 percent). Indonesia AirAsia, a unit of the Malaysian budget airline, had a 4.4 percent market share.
Overall, Indonesian domestic air travel business is overwhelmingly ruled by two groups; Lion Air group and Garuda Indonesia group. By mid 2015, Lion Air group accounted for 43.17 percent of market share, while Garuda Indonesia group had a 37.08 percent market share.
Incidents and accidents
- On 14 January 2002, Lion Air Flight 386, a Boeing 737-200 crashed on take-off and was written off at Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport. Everyone on board survived.
- On 30 November 2004, Lion Air Flight 538, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashed in Surakarta with registration PK-LMN (c/n 49189); 25 people died.
- On 4 March 2006, Lion Air Flight 8987, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, crashed after landing at Juanda International Airport. Reverse thrust was used during landing, although the left thrust reverser was stated to be out of service. This caused the aircraft to veer to the right and skid off the runway, coming to rest about 7,000 feet (2,100 m) from the approach end of the runway. There were no fatalities, but the aircraft was badly damaged.
- On 24 December 2006, Lion Air Flight 792, a Boeing 737-400, landed with an incorrect flap configuration and was not aligned with the runway. The plane landed hard and skidded along the runway causing the right main landing gear to detach, the left gear to protrude through the wing and some of the aircraft fuselage to be wrinkled. There were no fatalities, but the aircraft was written off.
- On 23 February 2009, Lion Air Flight 972, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 landed without the nose gear at Hang Nadim International Airport, Batam.
- On 9 March 2009, Lion Air Flight 793, a McDonnell Douglas MD-90-30 (registration PK-LIL) ran off the runway at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. No-one was injured.
- On 2 November 2010, Lion Air Flight 712, a Boeing 737-400 (registration PK-LIQ) overran the runway on landing at Supadio Airport, Pontianak, coming to rest on its belly and sustaining damage to its nose gear. All 174 passengers and crew evacuated by the emergency slides, with few injuries.
- On 13 April 2013, Lion Air Flight 904, a Boeing 737-800 (registration PK-LKS; c/n 38728) from Bandung to Denpasar with 108 people on board, crashed into the water near Denpasar/Bali while attempting to land. The aircraft's fuselage broke into two parts. While Indonesian officials reported the aircraft crashed short of the runway, reporters and photographers from Reuters and the Associated Press indicated that the plane overshot the runway. All passengers and crew were evacuated from the aircraft and there were no fatalities.
- On 6 August 2013, Lion Air Flight 892, a Boeing 737-800 (registration PK-LKH; c/n 37297) from Makassar to Gorontalo with 117 passengers and crew on board, hit a cow while landing at Jalaluddin Airport and veered off the runway. There were no injuries.
- On 1 February 2014, Lion Air Flight 361, a Boeing 737-900ER (registration PK-LFH; c/n 35710), from Balikpapan Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar/Bali via Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, with 222 passengers and crew on board, landed hard and bounced four times on the runway, causing a tail strike and substantial damage to the plane. There were no fatalaties, but two passengers were seriously injured and three others had minor injuries.
- On 20 February 2016, Lion Air flight 263 from Balikpapan Sultan Aji Muhammad Sulaiman Airport to Juanda International Airport in Surabaya overran the runway on landing, with no injuries. The National Transportation Safety Committee investigation into the incident found that failures in crew resource management led to improper landing procedures, and recommended that Indonesian airlines improve pilot training.
- On 2 April 2017, about 300 litres of fuel spilled on the tarmac at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya. Pictures taken by passengers on board showed fuel pouring out of one of the aircraft's wings. Shortly after, all passengers were evacuated and the plane was grounded for further investigation. No casualties were reported. That same day a representative from Lion Air was summoned by the Indonesian Transport Ministry to clarify the incident. An early statement by a Lion Air representative said that the leak was caused by a non-functioning safety valve and overflow detector.
Revocation of routes
On January 9, 2015, following the fatal crash of Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501, 53 routes operated by Lion Air and its subsidiaries were revoked by the transportation ministry as they had not been approved to fly. Among the 61 routes, Lion Air had the largest share.
Private jet business
In early 2012, the Transportation Ministry said that the airline was processing an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) for their private business jets. Private-jet services will be launched in the third quarter of 2012 with 4 of nine-seater jets Hawker 900 XP. The aim is to serve clients from the country's mining industry and will compete with Susi Air and Royal Jet.
See also
- Aviation in Indonesia
- Malindo Air
- Wings Air
- Batik Air
- Thai Lion Air
- List of airlines of Indonesia
References
External links
- (in Indonesian) (in English) (in Chinese) (in Arabic) (in Vietnamese) Official website
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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