Sunday, May 22, 2011

Mandala to focus on low cost carrier market: Expert

The Jakarta Post | Mon, 05/23/2011 9:08 AM | Business

PT Mandala Airlines will continue to focus on the low-cost carrier (LCC) market because of one of its main investors, the National Air Carrier Association of Indonesia says.

Singapore's Tiger Airways, a key investor in Mandala, is focused on the LCC market, association secretary-general Tengku Burhanuddin said Sunday.

“We expect competition to tighten in the low-cost carrier business,” Tengku said.

Mandala introduced its low-cost carrier service in 2006. At present, Lion Air, AirAsia Indonesia and Citilink – a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia, are the three dominant players in Indonesia's domestic LCC business.

Mandala Airlines corporate communications chief Nurmaria Sarosa said Mandala, along with two new investors, were expecting to discuss over the airline's flight services in the future and the date to fly.

“We will inform the public once we have reached an agreement together,” she said.

Mandala, which stopped operation early this year, reportedly was acquired by Saratoga Capital and Tiger Airways. Saratoga controls 51 percent of the total shares, Tiger 33 percent and creditors control the rest.

Airlines analyst Arista Atmadjati says Mandala Airlines should focus on the domestic market, since it has already mastered this field.

“Some routes, for example Jakarta-Medan, Jakarta-Semarang and Banjarmasin-Yogyakarta, have frequent flyers,” he said.

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