Lion Air (JT, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) is planning to use any new routes allocated to it by the Indonesian Directorate General Of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to help prop up its Batik Air (ID, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) subsidiary.

Following a series of flight delays which affected more than 3,000 passengers over the period February 18 to 20, the DGCA suspended Lion Air's permission to operate ten internal routes - Surabaya-Ambon, Ambon-Surabaya, Surabaya-Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta, Makassar-Jayapura, Jayapura-Makassar, Makassar-Jakarta, Praya Lombok International-Jakarta, Jakarta-Jambi, Jambi-Jakarta, and Yogyakarta Adisutjipto-Palangkaraya - in addition to barring it from applying from any new ones.

In a bid to lift the ban, Lion Air airport and services director, Daniel Putut Kuncoro, last week told the Berita Satu newspaper that his airline had held positive consultative talks with the Indonesian Ministry of Transport, Ignatius Jonan, to update him on improvements made to Lion Air's crisis management mechanisms.

"I made a presentation concerning our crisis-handling standards to Transport Minister Ignatius Jonan who was accompanied by special staff consultant Hadi M Djuraid on Tuesday (May 26) afternoon," he said. "They have expressed their consent. Now, we're just waiting for the disposition of the minister. We hope that the process can proceed quickly."

With the ability to apply for new routes reinstated, Kuncoro said the Lion Group would focus on opening up new Batik Air flights to the islands of Sulawesi and Maluku, as well as Gorontalo, Palu, and Tahuna.

With a mixed fleet of seven A320-200 (sl)s, thirteen B737-800s, and six B737-900s, Batik Air offers full service flights to destinations throughout the Indonesian archipelago.