The Lion Air Group hopes to add approximately 80 new aircraft to its fleet in 2023 and expand operations to new markets in South Asia, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan.
Lion Air Group's Daniel Putut Kuncoro Adi told a conference in Jakarta on December 28, 2022, that the entity added 43 new aircraft in the last year. He said those new planes were only around 50% of the new aircraft the group needs, with those incoming in 2023 making up the shortfall.
Lion Air Group airlines include Lion Air, Wings Air (Indonesia), Super Air Jet, Batik Air, Batik Air Malaysia, and Thai Lion Air. Across the entire group, the company operates 317 aircraft. Its Indonesia-based airlines operate 287 aircraft, with Lion Air claiming 111 of that number. Kuncoro Adi did not say which carriers the incoming aircraft this year would be distributed to, however, the various airlines had been steadily returning aircraft to service over 2022 as passenger demand increased. According to the ch-aviation fleets module, all six Lion Air Group airlines now only have limited numbers of aircraft categorised as inactive, with that categorisation including planes removed from service for scheduled maintenance reasons as well as market demand reasons.
The latest orders data indicates that Lion Air Indonesia has 113 A320-200Ns and sixty-five A321-200Ns on order with Airbus while Lion Air's undelivered Boeing orders comprise 230 B737 MAX.
Meanwhile, Kuncoro Adi said Lion Air Group frequencies from Indonesia into Singapore Changi, Kuala Lumpur International, and Penang would increase in 2023 while route launches to unspecified airports in South Asia were also on the agenda this year.
"We are adding several routes, especially to South Asia. We are still in talks with Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India, and Pakistan. We have explored them. Hopefully, in 2023, additional international routes will be implemented," he was quoted by Investor.id.
