A former Garuda Indonesia executive is behind a new full service airline being launched by a group of Indian and Indonesian businessmen.
Pacific Royale Airways CEO Samudra Sukardi said, “Our mission at Pacific Royale Airways is to enter Indonesia’s market to address the public concerns in flight safety, punctuality and good services.”
The airline plans domestic and international services such as Surabaya-Singapore, Surabaya-Hong Kong, Bandung-Singapore and Bandung-Kuala Lumpur.
Domestic operations will start with two Airbus A320-200 aircraft, while two Fokker 50 planes will be deployed to serve feeder destinations within the country.
Three additional Fokker 50s and two more A320s will arrive in May, with an Airbus A330 aircraft scheduled to arrive by year-end.
Pacific Royale is led by founder and chairman Tarun Trika (49% of shares, the maximum allowed under Indonesian airline ownership regulations) and local Gunarni Gunawan (51% of shares)
Trika owns several real estate and travel businesses in India. He also has established a new online travel agency, bookmytrip.com, which will initially be launched in India and the Philippines this year, and later be launched in the Indonesian market.
Trika says a deal with Abacus would help Pacific Royale access travel agencies throughout Asia as well as online channels. He expects GDSs to initially account for about 60% of Pacific Royale’s bookings.
