BBN Airlines Indonesia (7B, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) has secured an air operator's certificate (AOC) from the Indonesian civil aviation authority (Direktorat Jenderal Perhubungan Udara) to operate commercial passenger flights. The carrier is already certified for cargo flights.
“With the issuance of this AOC, BBN Airlines Indonesia aims to bring more capacity to the region and deliver a high standard of safety and service in the air travel experience,” the carrier's chairman, Martynas Grigas, said in a statement.
ch-aviation recently reported on BBN Indonesia's planned move into ACMI passenger services. At the time, it was preparing three passenger-configured B737-800s for entry into service. One of these has since entered the Indonesian register as PK-BBF (msn 29676). The other two, msn 36121 and msn 39390, are undergoing final maintenance checks at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta. The latter was acquired outright by the airline, while PK-BBF comes on lease from DAE Capital and msn 36121 is leased from Air Lease Corporation.
"In addition to the considerable demand for domestic flights, there is also high demand from India and China. Therefore, BBN Airlines Indonesia has organised its operational area, covering the Asia-Pacific region, allowing the company to not only serve domestic needs but also cater to requests from neighbouring countries in that region," Grigas outlined.
BBN Airlines Indonesia is owned by ACMI provider Avia Solutions Group. In addition to the three B737-800s, the airline also operates two B737-800(BCF)s and is inducting a B737-400(SF). Avia Solutions Group is also preparing to launch a Thailand-based ACMI passenger airline under the SmartLynx Airlines brand and is believed to be eyeing AOC's in Malaysia and the Philippines. Last month, ASG closed its acquisition of Skytrans (QN, Cairns).
