Indonesia's flag carrier has today (Wed 1st Nov) formally changed its 50 additional options for the Saab 2000 into solid orders. Bolstering the order book to 150 of the aircraft type, all due for delivery between November 1993 and August 1999.
The list price for all 150 aircraft would total Rp.36tril ($2.46bn), Air Indo revealed, but the sum due would likely be significantly below that figure given the size of the order.
Air Indo has said that the phased nature of the deal meant it would support its ambitions to create 10,000 new jobs over the coming decade.
With the order for the Saab 2000 being the largest by any airline for the type, Air Indo has stated that it has opted for this specific aircraft as they offer greater fuel efficiency, extra seats and the speed being almost the same as a jetliner, compared to the current fleet of Fokker F27s that the type will be replacing.
The CEO of Air Indo said: ""In addition to delivering significant revenue and traffic growth across Indonesia, we expect these new, larger, more efficient, greener, aircraft to drive further unit cost savings, which will be passed on to passengers in lower air fares whilst allowing us to operate from even more of our island airports, providing vital links to our Indonesian community."
Air Indo is planning to start retiring its F27 fleet as soon as the first of the new aircraft is delivered, with expectations that the last F27 will be leaving the fleet by late 1996.
Saab currently have a total backlog of 454 orders for the type. Other carriers opting for the Saab 2000 include, Fabrizzio Global (80 a/c) , Greyhound (50 a/c), Grid Commuter (50 a/c), Trans Europe Air (50 a/c), Cloud Aviation (40 a/c) and Moroccan Airways (14 a/c).
Topic: Additional Saab 2000 order for Air Indo (Read 7 times)
