One of the world’s largest budget carriers, Malaysia-based AirAsia Group, plans to list its Indonesian unit - Indonesia AirAsia - on the Indonesia Stock Exchange in mid-2016. AirAsia Group Chief Tony Fernandes said that the group is eager to expand its presence in Indonesia, one of the world’s fastest growing regions in terms of air passengers, and aims to raise USD $300 million through this initial public offering (IPO). The fatal crash of Indonesia AirAsia flight QZ8501 in the Java Sea in December 2014 did not dim the group’s ambitions.

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On 19 April 2015, Indonesia Investments released the latest edition of its newsletter. This free newsletter, which is sent to our subscribers once per week, contains the most important news stories from Indonesia that have been reported on our website in the last seven days. Most of the topics involve economic matters such as an update on Bank Indonesia’s interest rate policy, the performance of the rupiah, the March trade balance, updates on coal, palm oil, cement and car sales, GDP growth forecast, alcohol in Indonesia, and more.

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Small Indonesian airlines face difficult times ahead of the implementation of a new law (UU No. 1 2009 on Aviation) which stipulates that per 1 July 2015 all Indonesian airlines have to operate at least ten aircraft. Of this ten airplanes, at least five aircraft have to be owned by the airline, while the remainder can be leased. The Indonesian government emphasized that if domestic airlines fail to comply with the new law per July 2015, then their flight permits will be revoked.

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Indonesian authorities said that divers have located the black box recorders of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 on Sunday (11/01). Ships involved in the search operation picked up strong ping signals less than 0.6 miles from the location where the tail of the AirAsia aircraft was found. However, divers have not been able yet to collect the black box (which contains crucial flight data) due to the strong undercurrent. Moreover, the black box is stuck under debris at about 30 to 35 meters below sea level.

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Although Indonesian rescuers are still searching for the black boxes, casualties and other remains of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 that crashed tragically in the Java Sea on 28 December 2014 en route from Surabaya (East Java) to Singapore, some preliminary findings have already been presented to the media. These findings do not involve the accident itself but rather involve massive violations that were exposed as a consequence of the AirAsia tragedy. Apparently, 61 flights (involving five Indonesian airlines) lack the necessary permits.

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Indonesia has suspended several officials in connection to the AirAsia Flight QZ8501 disaster after preliminary results of the investigation indicate that the AirAsia airplane was not authorized to fly on Sundays (hence detecting a flight schedule violation). The AirAsia plane went down in the Java Sea on Sunday 28 December 2014, en route from Surabaya (East Java) to Singapore, presumably killing all 162 people on board. Authorities have barred the airline from flying this route until the investigation is over.

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On Sunday 28 December 2014 an Indonesia AirAsia flight lost contact with Indonesian air traffic control en route from Surabaya (East Java) to Singapore. AirAsia flight QZ 8501, carrying 155 passengers and seven crew members, departed from Surabaya at 5:35 am local Surabaya time and lost contact above the Java Sea (between Java and Kalimantan) at 6:17 am local time. The Airbus A320-200 was supposed to land in Singapore at 08:30 am Singapore time.

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The Lion Group, parent to Indonesia’s largest privately held airline Lion Mentari Airlines (Lion Air), targets to raise IDR 10 trillion (USD $820 million) by selling a 30 percent stake through an initial public offering (IPO) on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in 2016. If realized, this would be one of the largest IPOs on the IDX in recent years. Lion Group CEO Rusdi Kirana confirmed the company’s IPO plans earlier this week. Part of the proceeds will be used to develop a new airport in Lebak (Banten, West Java).

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Ahead of implementation of the ASEAN Single Aviation Market (ASAM) in 2015, it is important for Indonesia to improve infrastructure at (and around) airports, particularly the nation’s smaller airports, in order to be able to compete with other airports in the ASEAN region. ASAM will turn ASEAN into a unified and single aviation market by 2015, meaning that air travel between ASEAN member states is fully liberalized. As such, ASAM will supersede existing unilateral, bilateral and multilateral air services agreements between ASEAN members.

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Recently, the Indonesian government decided to raise the airfare price ceiling by ten percent in an effort to support local airlines. This measure is required as Indonesian airlines face financial difficulties due to the depreciating rupiah exchange rate and higher global fuel (avtur) price. However, airlines have become worried as the government also decided to remove its fuel surcharge policy (that was implemented in February 2014). This fuel surcharge also aimed at supporting local airlines amid rising fuel costs.

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Governments’ social and business restrictions (imposed in the context of preventing the further spread of COVID-19 in society) and people’s concern over the virus have damaged both the tourism and transportation industry in an unprecedented way.

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The other day, I had a conversation with my neighbors – a married couple who run a bakery and café in the city center of Yogyakarta. From previous conversations I knew that their business is heavily affected by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Even up to the point that they had to find a cheaper school for their oldest daughter.

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On 28 August 2020 Indonesian President Joko Widodo officially opened Yogyakarta International Airport (YIA), a brand new airport that is located in Kulon Progo in the Special Region of Yogyakarta; a region known as one of Indonesia’s main tourism centers. Many in fact call Yogyakarta the ‘heart and soul of Indonesia’.

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Across the world, concern over the COVID-19 pandemic grew in September 2020 as the number of new COVID-19 cases continued to rise rapidly. Worldwide, at the end of September 2020, some 34 million people have been infected with the virus, while more than one million people have died after contracting the virus.

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Investigators reported their preliminary findings in the investigation into the causes of the fatal crash of Lion Air flight JT-610 to Indonesian parliament on Wednesday 28 November 2018. These preliminary findings should not be confused with conclusions. Therefore, it is too early to pinpoint a definitive cause (or causes) of the accident that occurred in the early morning of 29 October 2018 and killed all 189 people on board (including crew).

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Indonesia's air transport industry is about to see a big change as the nation's national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia said it will take over operational control of the rival Sriwijaya Group. This move seriously boosts the Garuda Group's share of the fast-growing domestic aviation market.

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When 189 people – consisting of passengers and flight crew - boarded Lion Air flight 610 in the early morning of Monday 29 October 2018, no-one expected that it would be their last flight. After all, the Lion Air plane - a Boeing 737 MAX 8 powered by two CFM International LEAP engines - was a brand new airplane that had been delivered to Lion Air on 13 August 2018 and had only been operated by the Indonesian low-cost airline since 15 August 2018. In the two and-a-half months it had been in service the aircraft had flown about 800 hours.

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The tourism industry of Indonesia is one of the most important industries in terms of the nation's foreign exchange earnings. However, compared to its neighboring countries - specifically Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand - Indonesia lags behind in terms of foreign visitor arrivals. This "failure" is partly attributed to the weak state of Indonesia's infrastructure. This includes the lack of enough airports or the lack of enough aircraft and passenger handling capacity at existing airports.

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In 2017 Indonesia's Transportation Ministry allowed the opening of 83 new flight routes (commercial civil flights), consisting of 58 domestic routes and 25 international routes. There are two reasons why the government encourages the opening of new routes: (1) to make the remote areas of Indonesia less isolated, and (2) to strengthen inter & intra regional transportation.

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Indonesia's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, a state-controlled five-star airline that is listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, requested to postpone the arrival of new airplanes in an attempt to improve the company's corporate earnings. Pahala M. Mansury, General Director of Garuda Indonesia, said the order (the number of airplanes) has not been revised, neither has the company's fleet plan (that runs to 2020) been changed. Only the timing of arrival of five planes has been altered.

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