The European Commission recently lifted its ban on Indonesian airlines flying into European Union countries that had previously been blacklisted over their failure to meet international safety standards. Recent improvements to Indonesia’s overall air safety record and more stringent regulations on the industry led to the decision by EU air safety experts to lift the ban.
Budget carrier Lion Air, which is one of the fastest growing airlines in Indonesia and the region, has already expressed interest in establishing new international routes into Europe and are reportedly most seriously studying the possibility of flights to France and Germany.
“The market sounding from Lion Group is that they are now exploring the flight market to Paris and one of the cities in Germany,” said Agus Santoso, the director general of air transportation at the Ministry of Transportation, yesterday as quoted by Liputan 6.
Agus said that if the airline were to study the market for those cities and decided they wanted to establish a route, they would then need to apply for permission from both Indonesia’s Directorate General of Air Transportation as well as the relevant EU bodies.
Does Lion Air have the right planes to fly all the way to Paris? Yes, in fact just this April Lion Air confirmed a US$6.2 billion deal to purchase 60 Boeing 737 MAX 10 narrowbody jets and has placed provisional orders for more Boeing 787 widebody jets in the future.
Some travelers in Indonesia are wary of Lion Air due to personal bad experiences are the numerous news stories about the airline’s at times severe delays and other serious customer service complaints. But for relatively cheap flights to Paris or Berlin, we’re pretty sure even picky travelers would be willing to give Lion another chance. Would you fly Lion Air to Europe? Let us know in the comments below.
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