Indonesia AirAsia sells its tickets mostly through the Internet, but with the Batavia Air acquisition it will now have access to a base of travel agents, which are an important distribution channel in Indonesia. “Following the acquisition, the number of distribution channels in Indonesia will increase 10-fold to over 5,000 authorized agents and more than 70 sales outlets. With this enlarged agency footprint, AirAsia will be able to reach even more customers while complementing our Internet-based sales,” AirAsia notes.
This combination of the two low-cost operators follows the recent relocation of AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes to Jakarta from Kuala Lumpur with the goal of growing Indonesia AirAsia, which until today has been a distant fifth in the Indonesian airline market behind Lion Air, Garuda Indonesia/Citilink, Sriwijaya Air and Batavia Air.
Fernandes had previously said Indonesia AirAsia should be much larger than it is, considering Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest aviation market.
Fleet Growth
Indonesia AirAsia is relatively small, with a fleet of 18 A320s, but Batavia Air will add a fleet of 34 aircraft comprising six A320-family aircraft, two Airbus A330s, 15 Boeing 737-300s, 10 737-400s and one 737-500, although Batavia Air recently returned some aircraft to lessors before their leases expired and was negotiating with International Lease Finance Corp. to break its 10-year lease on the two widebodies.
The acquisition is not surprising, as many in the industry were already predicting that the Tansari family, which controls the Batavia Air, would close the operation. Founder, Yudiawan Tansari, alluded to this in his comments about the consolidation, noting, “I am proud to have built Batavia Air into a leading Indonesian airline from its humble beginnings. Recent developments in the airline industry, however, have made me recognize that Batavia Air requires greater scale in order to compete and grow further, and I am so pleased that AirAsia will now take Batavia Air to even greater heights.”
AirAsia’s Fernandes added, “The Batavia Air acquisition is a fantastic opportunity for AirAsia to accelerate our growth plans in one of the most exciting aviation markets in Asia and further underlines our belief in the growth potential of Indonesia’s aviation sector.”