MIAMIx707 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Posted (7 years 1 month 3 weeks 2 days ago) and read 45557 times:
A new Indonesian domestic carrier, Linus Airways should be starting operations in April 1st. The following article says they will use a 727-200, and I can confirm there is a 737-200 on it's way which should arrive on March 31st, ex Southwest N95SW, painted in an attractive, bright green color scheme.
Here is an article, maybe someone could translante the most important parts into english:
Jakarta - Lintas Nusantara Airways (Linus), satu operator baru, akan menerbangi tiga rute penerbangan yakni Jakarta-Tanjung Pandan, Jakarta-Palembang dan Jakarta-Medan-Banda Aceh mulai 1 April 2005.
Presiden Direktur Linus Airways J. Indra mengatakan ketiga rute baru tersebut akan dilayani setiap hari dengan menggunakan satu unit Boeing 727-200 berkapasitas 122 kursi.
"Meski persaingan sesama operator kini sangat ketat, kami optimistis bisa ikut memberikan pelayanan terbaik kepada masyarakat. Kami akan mulai terbang perdana pada 1 April," katanya didampingi Direktur Niaga Linus Harry Priyono kepada Bisnis Senin.
Dia menjelaskan pada pekan kedua April diharapkan satu pesawat lagi akan tiba di Indonesia memperkuat armada perusahaan baru tersebut.
"Armada kedua yang akan tiba pada minggu kedua April itu akan dipakai untuk melayani rute lain, karena untuk tiga rute pertama cukup dilayani satu pesawat saja."
Rute lainnya yang segera diterbangi Linus adalah Jakarta-Batam, Batam-Pekanbaru dan Pekanbaru-Medan.
Menurut Harry, pada ke enam rute yang akan diterbangi Linus ini sudah ada lebih dahulu operator lain dengan berbagai kelebihan terutama dengan konsep tarif murah.
"Kami tidak akan menjadikan tarif murah sebagai kekuatan kami, tetapi loyalitas pelanggan yang selama ini sudah kami layani dalam penerbangan carteran."
Indra menjelaskan kedua Boeing 737-200 yang akan digunakan Linus disewa dari perusahaan leasing Air Smith Amerika Serikat dengan pola dry lease (tanpa menggunakan kru). Pesawat yang disewa ini bekas dipakai perusahaan penerbangan South West.
Dia menjelaskan Linus sengaja mulai terbang pada masa low season, sehingga bisa lebih berbenah dan mempelajari pasar dan pada saat penumpang padat perusahaannya sudah dikenal oleh pelanggannya.
Sebelumnya dalam kesempatan terpisah Direktur Angkutan Udara Dephub Santoso Eddy Wibowo membenarkan dua maskapai penerbangan baru yakni Linus Airways dan TransAsia akan ikut meramaikan persaiangan industri penerbangan dalam negeri.
Eddy mengatakan kedua maskapai itu saat ini telah selesai mengurus Surat Izin Usaha Penerbangan (SIUP). Namun kendati proses SIUP suduah selesai kedua maskapai itu masih proses pengurusan Air Operation Certificate (AOC).
Dengan hadirnya kedua maskapai itu nantinya, maka jumlah perusahaan penerbangan berjadual di Indonesia akan mencapai 24 maskapai setelah sebelumnya tercatat 22 perusahaan penerbangan berjadual yang beroperasi di Tanah Air.
"Keduanya, Linus Airlines dan TransAsia sudah mengurus SIUP, dan saat ini masih menunggu proses AOC," ujar Eddy.
Hingga saat ini Dephub masih memproses beberapa airlines yang sudah mengajukan proposal perizinan usahanya. Namun beberapa di antaranya masih harus menjalani beberapa tahapan seperti AOC sehingga belum bisa dipastikan kapan maskapai itu akan beroperasi. (en)
Sumber: Bisnis Indonesia
There are no photos of this airline yet on the database but hopefully those of you in Indonesia could snap some photos soon.
HB-IWC From Greece, joined Sep 2000, 4211 posts, RR: 79 Reply 1, posted (7 years 1 month 3 weeks 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 45520 times:
This should be more or less what the article says:
Jakarta - New airline operator Lintas Nusantara Airways will start operations on April 1, 2005 plying the Jakarta-Tanjung Pandan, Jakarta-Palembang and Jakarta-Medan-Banda Aceh routes.
According to the airline's President Director, these three routes will be served daily, using a Boeing 727-200 aircraft, equiped with 122 seats.
"Although competition between airline operators is currently fierce, we feel optimistic that we will be able to offer the best possible service to the Indonesian community, as we start operations on April 1st.", said the airline's Chief Operating Officer.
In the second week of April, the airline hopes to reinforce its fleet with one additional airframe. The additional aircraft is expected to be deployed on new routes, as the sole B727 will suffice for the initial three routes.
Linus expects to soon start serving the Jakarta-Batan, Batam-Pekanbaru and Pekanbaru-Madan routes.
Other airline operators, that are also plying the six proposed routes, are mainly attracting customers by offering cheap fares. LINUS, however, doesn't plan to follow its competitors in offering rock bottom fares as its main point of attraction, but expects to cash in on the loyalty of its customer base, which it has already been serving with charter flights.
The second aircraft, a Boeing 737-200, will be dry leased from Air Smith, a US-based leasing company. The aircraft was previously operated by South West Airlines.
In order to be able to prepare itself for the peak travel period, LINUS is starting operations in this low season period.
Seperately, the Director General of Civil Aviation and the Ministry of Communications and Transportation, announced that, apart from LINUS airways, another airline, TransAsia, would soon be joining the crowded domestic airline market. He assured that both newcomers had already obtained some of the necessary operating permits, but are still in the process of completing all administrative requirements.
With the addition of these two newcomers, the Indonesian domestic airline scene, will now count 24 operators. Meanwhile, another couple of airlines are waiting to be issued with the necessary permits in order to start domestic operations soon.
LINUS is not really a newcomer, as it has been operating charter services with a BAe146 for a while. Interesting news is also that yet another couple of airlines are lining up to start operations here... I wonder how LINUS, with its top notch B727 fleet is planning to attract customers with fares that are going to be higher than those of other airlines on the same routes, though...
MIAMIx707 From , joined Dec 1969, posts, RR: Reply 2, posted (7 years 1 month 3 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 45498 times:
Good luckk to them, that 737 that I saw was certainly an attention-grabber. Don't know how old the plane is though. I guess maybe if Southwest had it, it must be in good enough shape.
You said the airline has been operating a BAe-146 for a while, how long is a while? I just found an article from March 18 on Just Planes saying it was a new airline starting operations April 1st...
HB-IWC From Greece, joined Sep 2000, 4211 posts, RR: 79 Reply 3, posted (7 years 1 month 3 weeks 1 day 17 hours ago) and read 45487 times:
Quoting MIAMIx707 (Reply 2): You said the airline has been operating a BAe-146 for a while, how long is a while?
I'm not sure about this. I just know that they operated a Bae146 out of Medan for charter flights. Mandala499 might be able to shed a clearer light on this.
As far as their new scheduled operations go, I really don't see them being competitive with fares that are higher than their competitors, so I predict they'll reverse this strategy pretty soon. People in Indonesia wishing to pay a little more for better and reliable service are flying Garuda, and I fail to see how a fledgling operarator with a fleet of one or two old aircraft are planning to offer a serious challenge to an established player like Garuda in the higher end market.
Mandala499 From Indonesia, joined Aug 2001, 5879 posts, RR: 74 Reply 4, posted (7 years 1 month 3 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 45428 times:
A friend of mine was offered a position there but declined due to BAe146 AND 727 fleet... Can't blame him with the current fuel prices and RVSM beginning to affect the airlines here.
They are currently using National Air Charter (a sole BAe146 operator previously) AOC.
Their plan seems to revolve around the BAe146 flying to smaller places where no mainline service exist, and then connecting them to the 727/737 network they're setting up... There will be a base in Surabaya if I remember correctly, but their current BAe146 situation is like trying to shoot a vulture with CTA (Switzerland)">BB guns.
Other information is that this airline does have "links" with the old National Air Charter... With AirSmith as their leasing company, I strongly suspect the 722 is ex Jatayu and so will the 732... Jatayu's previously "large" fleet is down to 2 722 and 2 732s at the moment. Despite aggressive marketing by AirSmith, only Jatayu seems to have signed up with them and now Linus... their previous marketing for leasing was way out of this galaxy IMHO. A lot of people don't seem to like them.
As to attracting passengers for good service, the only startup that has succeeded in that is Star Air. But Star Air managed this by investing a LOT of money into maintenance and their ontime performance (which culminated in Most On Time Operator here in 2003 but lost all that when their MDs came). Indonesian Airlines tried to do this but failed (caused by other factors too)...
Let's see how long they last...
Mandala499
When losing situational awareness, pray Cumulus Granitus isn't nearby !
HB-IWC From Greece, joined Sep 2000, 4211 posts, RR: 79 Reply 5, posted (7 years 1 month 3 weeks 1 day 10 hours ago) and read 45390 times:
Quoting Mandala499 (Reply 4): With AirSmith as their leasing company, I strongly suspect the 722 is ex Jatayu and so will the 732...
The 722 is, by my information, indeed an ex Jatayu plane. The 732 however, is a new addition to the Indonesian airspace. It is on its way over here, and should be arriving within the next two days. The plane is ex South West Airlines.
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From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
color scheme.
From Greece, joined Sep 2000, 4211 posts, 
From Indonesia, joined Aug 2001, 5879 posts, 
From Honduras, joined Nov 2004, 303 posts, 
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