0 Kartika Airlines on track to buy Sukhoi Superjet 100

Domestic carrier Kartika Airlines is going ahead with its plan to purchase 30 units of the Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SSJ-100) in a deal worth US$900 million, denying rumors that its business has collapsed. Kartika commercial director Aditya Wardhana said that the company was on track to buy the passenger jets and planned to put them into operation serving the eastern parts of the archipelago. “Everything is on the right track, no business plan has changed and our SIUAU [flight permit] is currently in the final stage. 

We will take delivery of several [SSJ-100] planes this year,” Aditya told The Jakarta Post on Thursday. The Moscow Times previously reported that United Aircraft Corporation lost a major contract to build the SSJ-100 passenger aircraft because Kartika had gone out of business. It said that the contract was not approved by Indonesian authorities because the carrier could not verify its financial solvency. It implied that the contract with Kartika was a non-starter from the very beginning. 

“We have a clear business plan and everything is currently being processed by the Transportation Ministry,” he said. Contacted separately, Transportation Ministry air transportation director Djoko Murjatmodjo echoed Aditya’s statement, saying that the regulator was processing all necessary documents for the carrier’s SIUAU. “We are just waiting for the final report on capital and assets from Kartika Airlines. After that, we are going to issue the permit,” Djoko told the Post. He also said that the ministry had received Kartika’s full business plan for the next few years. 

Kartika is not a new player in the country’s aviation industry as it previously offered domestic services in the early 2000s before halting its operations. According to the ministry, it started operating from Indonesia’s main gateway Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in 2001 and stopped flight services in June 2010, when its flight permit was frozen. Every airline needs to obtain a new permit before resuming services when they stop operations for more than a year. Kartika ordered the Russian regional jets in July 2010 at the Farnborough International Air Show in the United Kingdom. 

The agreement made the carrier the first company in Southeast Asia to purchase the new jets. Another domestic airline, Sky Aviation, has recently received the first of its 12 SSJ-100s, designated to be stationed in Makassar, South Sulawesi, to serve routes to Denpasar, Bali; Balikpapan, East Kalimantan; and Sorong, West Papua. The plane is scheduled for its first commercial flight on March 10. An SSJ-100 crashed into Mount Salak, West Java, during an exhibition flight in May 2012, killing all 45 crew, journalists and potential buyers on board. An investigation conducted by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) concluded that unfamiliarity with the route and a distraction had caused the pilots to direct the plane into Mt. Salak.

source : the jakarta post