"This is a major deal for Airbus because, generally, Indonesia has been a fortress for Boeing," said Ravi Madavaram, an aerospace analyst for Frost & Sullivan in Kuala Lumpur.
Lion Air's Growth
Lion Air, Indonesia's biggest private carrier, has ordered more than 460 planes in just 16 months, a dramatic expansion that has raised doubts about how it will find the financing, pilots and landing slots.
The airline is banned from the European Union and United States over safety concerns. But it says it plans to broaden its regional horizons, and observers think it wants to take on AirAsia.
It now operates 92 planes -- all Boeings except for one older McDonnell Douglas -- to 72 destinations, mostly in Indonesia. The furthest it flies is to Saudi Arabia, a route packed with domestic workers and construction laborers.
In a rare interview with The Star in Malaysia in late 2012, Lion Air's rags-to-riches founder Rusdi Kirana said that Indonesians in the middle-income bracket were already flying to neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.
"This group will later think of Hong Kong or even Canton (Guangzhou, in southern China). And when they have more money they will want to travel to Japan, Korea, north China or Australia," he said.
Olivia Rondonuwu, AFP
Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2013
