Lion Air sees slight decline in passenger traffic after deadly crash
Troubled Indonesian budget carrier Lion Air says it hasn’t seen a major downturn in business since a fatal crash in late October.
Airline CEO Edward Sirait said passenger traffic numbers declined less than 5% in November, compared to the same period last year.
"There was a decline but it wasn’t too significant," Sirait told CNN Indonesia.
As a privately held company Lion Air group doesn’t release traffic figures, and Sirait says the airline is still unclear whether the decline was a direct result of the crash.
The official cause of the crash of Flight JT610 is still to be determined.
The flight took off from Jakarta on October 29 and plunged into the Java Sea killing all 189 onboard.
Sirait confirmed the airline is considering shelving a large Boeing order worth billions but no definitive decision has been made yet.
Lion Air has an outstanding order of nearly 190 Boeing 737 MAX jets, the same model involved in the accident.
Boeing’s relationship with the airline has soured in the aftermath of the crash, with Lion Air accusing the plane maker of attempting to shift blame.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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