Indonesia's Citilink Eyes 75 Per Cent Load Factor For Banyuwangi-KUL Route

SEPANG (Selangor, Malaysia), Dec 19 (Bernama) -- Citilink Indonesia, a leading low-cost carrier (LCC), is eyeing up to 75 per cent load factor for its director round-trip Banyuwangi-Kuala Lumpur-Banyuwangi route in the next six months. Chief Executive Officer and President Director Juliandra Nurtjahjo said the airline hoped to expand the seat load factor rapidly and aimed to increase it to between 80 and 90 per cent in the future. "This (BWX-KUL route) is one of our strategies to strengthen our existence in the international route, especially in the region," he told Malaysian reporters after welcoming Citilink's inaugural flight from Banyuwangi here Wednesday. The Airbus 320, with about 100 passengers onboard from Banyuwangi International Airport, East Java, was greeted with a water salute upon landing at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 12.10 pm. It was received by Indonesian Tourism Minister Arief Yahya, as well as, representatives from Citilink Indonesia and Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd. Citilink, a subsidiary of PT Garuda Indonesia, would operate the Banyuwangi-Kuala Lumpur-Banyuwangi route thrice weekly. The airline is the 60th passenger carrier to operate at KLIA's main terminal, joining the ranks of other LCCs such as Indonesia AirAsia, Lion Air and Batik Air. Besides Banyuwangi, Citilink would also ply the Jakarta-Penang route, which showed a promising load factor of up to 80 per cent, as well as, Indonesia's Surabaya to and from Penang (Malaysia's northern state). Commenting on whether Citilink planned to add other Malaysian airports to its list, he said:"not at the moment as our focus is Kuala Lumpur-Penang." Meanwhile, Arief hoped the new route would strengthen Indonesia-Malaysia relations and boost passenger movements between both nations which was likely to reach 2.7 million this year and increase to 3.0 million in 2019. He said Banyuwangi was a famous tourist destination in Indonesia, recording international arrivals of over 100,000 and domestic tourists of about two million, a significant number for a small city like Banyuwangi. -- BERNAMA