South Korea's Jeju Air to open up Indonesian skies

Jeju Air Co. and Indonesia's largest airline corporation will work together to develop flight routes and discover new tourism business opportunities.

Executives of Jeju Air and Indonesia's PT Angkasa Pura 1 (AP1), a state-run airliner, met at Jeju Air's Seoul office in Gangseo District on Tuesday, with Kim E-bae, CEO of Jeju Air, Edwin Hidayat Abdullah, Indonesia Aviation and Tourism Holding Vice President, Faik Fahmi, AP1 CEO, a member of the AP1 Board of Commissioners Irfan Wahid, and Chief Marketing Officer Dendi Danianto, in attendance.

At the meeting, an agreement was signed for developing flight routes between the two countries and discovering new collaboration projects.

According to the latest agreement, Jeju Air and AP1 agreed to cooperate in the development of Jeju Air's new flight lines such as Incheon-Bali and Incheon-Batam, as well as discovering regional tourism opportunities near major airports in Indonesia owned and operated by AP1.

PT Angkasa Pura 1 is a state-run enterprise in which the Indonesian government owns 100% of the stake. It is also an airport management group that owns airport-related subsidiaries, including logistics, regional development, and commercial spaces, including the operation of 15 regional airports in the central and eastern regions of Indonesia, including Bali and Batam airports.

Following the signing of an agreement with Indonesia's North Sulawesi Province in September last year, Jeju Air entered into an accord with AP1 to build a network with the local government and companies to preemptively move into the Indonesian market.

Based on the strengthened cooperation through this agreement, Jeju Air plans to aggressively develop new routes based on the new aircraft (B737-8) scheduled to be in operation this year.

"We are exerting a lot of efforts to create new opportunities including new route openings through the fleet modernization starting this year. We plan to enter the Indonesian market as soon as possible through close cooperation with the local government and companies in Indonesia," said an official of Jeju Air.

Write to Seo-Woo Jang at suwu@hankyung.com