Lion Air in the News

"We make people fly," and Lion Air flies the Boeing 747 between Jakarta and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

More than six months ago this blog had a post about the Indonesian airline Lion Air. The company is now a little bit better known in the United States this week after putting in a massive order for 230 Boeing aircraft. The airline was started in 1999 by travel agent Rusdi Kirana and his brother. They are planning to expand their route map all over Southeast and East Asia:

The once little-known Indonesian airline says it is planning to buy 230 planes from Boeing Co. The bill — with a list price of $21.7 billion — is to be paid over 12 years though bank financing.
Dozens of airlines have emerged in Indonesia since it deregulated its aviation industry in the 1990s, making air travel affordable for the first time for many across the sprawling island nation of 240 million, and luring passengers away from ferries and trains.