Waiting For Rusdi Kirana's Answer To Rumors Of Lion Air Making A New Airline, What Is The Airplane?

Lion Air aircraft. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - Lion Air Group is rumored to be establishing a new airline so that it can rise. Although, currently the aviation industry is sluggish during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This plan was also revealed by aviation observer Gerry Soejatman. Through his Twitter account, Gerry tweeted a caption accompanied by an image of a predominantly white airplane with the addition of a little red Lion Air ornament.

On the fuselage it is written 'Super Air Jet' which may be the name of the new airline being prepared by Lion Air.

BREAKING: 1/2. Amidst the pandemic #LionAirGroup has been rumored to start a new airline. Still scant info on this new mysterious airline and at what stage of the set up it is ... But it looks real. Smart? Or Foolish? The branding looks damn rushed though. pic.twitter.com/SvRdIKs0QJ

- Gerry Soejatman (@GerryS) September 30, 2020

Gerry, in his tweet also questioned what type of aircraft Lion Air would use to run its new airline business.

When contacted by VOI, Thursday, October 1, Gerry admitted that he did not know further about the big plans of Lion Air Group boss Rusdi Kirana regarding the new airline. He admitted that he got information from Aviatren's account.

"Honestly, I don't know. I was actually quite surprised that this was leaked to the public first yesterday. After it was leaked, I dare to open it too, even though the information is still very little," he said.

According to Gerry, he uploaded information about the new Lion Air Group airline after he learned the information from the news published by Bloomberg.

"Why? I've got mixed information about this from the last 2 months but I don't want to leak it to social media first," he said.

Quoted from Bloomberg, this bold move was confirmed by several parties who were aware of the plans of PT Lion Mentari Airlines.

According to a source who declined to be named, the plan was initiated by Lion's founders, including Rusdi Kirana. However, it is still unclear whether the new airline will be part of the Lion Group or not.

Meanwhile, Head of Public Relations of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation Budi Prayitno confirmed that there was a request for a new air operator certificate. However, he was reluctant to provide further details.