JambiJet
14th in a Series: A Fictional Indonesian Low Cost Carrier
Perseroan Terbatas JambiJet, operating as JambiJet, is an Indonesian low cost scheduled airline headquartered on the grounds of Sultan Thaha Syaifuddin Airport (DJB), formerly known as Palmerah Airport, located in Jambi City, Indonesia. In addition to Jambi-DJB, JambiJet also operates hubs at Soekarno–Hatta International Airport (CGK) in Jakarta, Indonesia, and at Juanda International Airport (SUB) in Surabaya, Indonesia.
Founded in 2013 by Budiwati Angkasa, the airline began in Jambi City but later bought out other airlines based in Jakarta and Surabaya to become one of the largest privately owned airlines in Indonesia. Though technically considered a low cost carrier (LCC), in reality JambiJet follows more of a hybrid model by offering considerable legroom even in its basic economy cabin, very few baggage fees, no change fees, reasonably priced upgrade packages and free high-speed WiFi.
History
Budiwati Angkasa - The Early Years
JambiJet was founded by Budiwati Angkasa, the eldest daughter of the powerful Indonesian industrialist Santoso Angkasa, the wealthiest person in Southeast Asia. Born in Jambi City, Ms Angkasa grew up in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta, and went on to attend university at UCLA in Los Angeles, California USA, where she graduated with an MBA degree in 1996.
Instead of returning to Indonesia to work for one of her father’s industrial conglomerates, Ms Angkasa stayed in the US and instead went to work for the American low cost carrier CalJet. She had originally planned to work at CalJet for perhaps 3-5 years to gain some airline management experience, then return to Indonesia to take a higher ranking position there. However, she ended up staying with CalJet for 16 years, and by 2011 at age 42 she had risen to become the company Chief Financial Officer (CFO).
Startup
By early 2012, Ms Angkasa had decided she was ready to return to Indonesia to start her own airline.
While vacationing in Indonesia during the Lunar New Year holiday, she persuaded her father to provide the necessary financial backing after extended discussion on the matter. Air travel in Indonesia was somewhat expensive in those days; Ms Angkasa planned to follow CalJet’s recipe as a low cost carrier (LCC), offering single class seating with lower fares and mostly pay as you go amenities. Passengers would be allowed one free checked bag but would have to pay a small fee for additional checked baggage as well as any carry-on items other than diaper bags or women’s purses.
Upon returning to the US, Ms Angkasa secured three leased Airbus A320-200s set to become available in early 2013. She officially established PT JambiJet, based it at Jambi-DJB, and then in May 2012 officially notified the CalJet board of directors that she would be leaving the company by year’s end.
The original plan for the JambiJet livery design was going to be a stylized version of the white and red flag of Indonesia. But while she was visiting relatives in Jambi in November 2012, Ms Angkasa received some unexpected inspiration for the tail livery designs, thanks to the colorful batik Sarees worn by three of her nieces during her visit. After her visit she decided to have each individual JambiJet aircraft painted with its own unique batik pattern design.
After saying her farewells to colleagues at CalJet, Ms Angkasa visited the JetStream Aerospace paintshop at San Bernardino-SBD in January 2013, where she personally oversaw the design and implementation of the first three batik patterns used, which were all remakes of her niece’s saree patterns.
JambiJet began operations on 15 April 2013, with flights initially running between Jambi-DJB «» Jakarta-CGK, Jambi-DJB «» Surabaya-SUB, and Jambi-DJB «» Singapore-SIN. The airline added other routes over time as more aircraft were brought into the fleet, such that by 2016 the company was flying to about 15 destinations within Indonesia from Jambi-DJB, plus an international route between Jambi-DJB «» Kuala Lumpur-KUL.
Acquisition of Elang Air
In 2016, Surabaya-based Elang Air found itself unable to pay its employees salary or benefits for three straight months. By December 2016 most of the company’s pilots and cabin crewmembers had resigned en masse, and after nearly 40 years Elang Air was forced to shut down.
After quickly securing funding from her father, Ms Angkasa was able to jump in and buy out Elang Air at a steep discount. She was able to hire back nearly all of the company’s former employees, and restarted operations in early January 2017, just in time for the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday period. Elang Air was merged into JambiJet by July 2017, and Surabaya-SUB became a 2nd (and more profitable) JambiJet hub.
Acquisition of Nilai Air
In October 2018, a 2nd Indonesia airline, a 50 year old legacy carrier named Nilai Air, abruptly found itself in severe financial straits as well, and was forced to cease operations. This time, Ms Angkasa used her own financing and quickly acquired ownership of the Jakarta-based Nilai Air. By May 2019 the airline remade the former Nilai Air Jakarta-CGK base into its 3rd (and still more profitable) hub for JambiJet, thereby making Jakarta-CGK JambiJet’s most prestigious hub.
Nilai Air’s route network was extensive, but it was entirely domestic in nature. So JambiJet added several international routes to destinations picked up from the previous acquisition of Elang Air. This added routes connecting Jakarta-CGK «» Bangkok-BKK, Jakarta-CGK «» Ho Chi Minh City-SGN, Jakarta-CGK «» Kuala Lumpur-KUL, Jakarta-CGK «» Manila-MNL and Jakarta-CGK «» Singapore-SIN.
Meanwhile, in Ms Angkasa surprised many observers during the 2019 Paris Air Show by becoming one of the first Asian airlines to place a large order for several new Aria Aircraft Company jets, including the new Aria T102 Transonic, Aria T152 Transonic, and Aria T202 Transonic airliners.
Covid 19 Response
During the very difficult Covid 19 Pandemic, in the face of precipitous drops in air travel and myriad travel-related restrictions, JambiJet spent most of 2020 reducing flights but managed to not entirely eliminate any of its domestic routes. However, the company was forced to drop all of its international routes due to the more complicated entry requirements other countries had imposed on foreign carriers.
Still, Ms Angkasa and the head office at Jambi-DJB was able to figure out how to largely avoid layoffs by repurposing many of JambiJet’s aircraft into preighters that could carry supplies and equipment at the request of the Indonesian government and major national industries. JambiJet received a great deal of help by having its preighter aircraft do work for PT Angkasa Pacific, the industrial conglomerate owned by Ms Angkasa’s father Santoso Angkasa, expediting delivery of important supplies and equipment and ferrying employees safely between cities.
Recent Fleet Management
To tide things over until the Aria aircraft arrived, JambiJet took delivery of several leased Airbus A320neo aircraft during 2020 and 2021. Originally ordered in 2017 as replacements for the company’s older Airbus A320-200s, the delivery schedule was slowed down significantly due to the pandemic and its impacts on supply chains and so forth, but the process of receiving them continued, although the schedule of removing the A320-200s has been stretched out a bit to ensure proper network coverage.
JambiJet received its first Aria T102 Transonic jet in October 2023, its first ever non-Airbus aircraft. Ordered in 2019, JambiJet is using the T102 on its thinner routes both domestically and internationally, especially for ongoing expansion to more destinations from the company’s Jambi-DJB hub, while also setting up some point-to-point routes within Indonesia.
JambiJet has also begun taking delivery of its first Aria T202 Transonic and Aria T152 Transonic airliners during the latter half of 2024. The T202s will allow the airline to reach into western Asia and connect on routes like Jakarta-CGK «» Dubai-DXB and Jakarta-CGK «» Jeddah-JED, along with several destinations in India, Pakistan, Maldives and more. The carrier is also planning to continue expanding its route network within Southeast Asia, including destinations such as Cebu-CEB, Phú Quốc-PQC, Phuket-HKT, and to select cities within Malaysia beyond Kuala Lumpur-KUL.
Plans are also unfolding to open a 4th hub at Denpasar-DPS, which will offer air service to holidaymakers in Asia, Australia and New Zealand. Ms Angkasa has placed orders for 6 leased Aria S102 Supersonic jets, some of which would presumably be used to open several new routes to DPS and other hubs. Examples routes may include Denpasar-DPS «» Sydney-SYD, Denpasar-DPS «» Melbourne-MEL, Denpasar-DPS «» Auckland-AKL, Jakarta-CGK «» Tokyo-NRT, Jakarta-CGK «» Dubai-DXB and/or Jakarta-CGK «» Shanghai-PVG among other possibilities.
Although JambiJet hasn’t announced plans to officially become an all-Aria carrier, such plans are likely in the cards, at least in the medium to long term. The carrier had originally stated that it wanted to retire its remaining Airbus A320-200s by 2024, but has since postponed that milestone until sometime in 2025. The company start offloading at least some of its Airbus A320neos from its fleet after the last of the A320-200s depart from the fleet.
Destinations
JambiJet offers routes connecting to the following cities. All destinations listed are located within Indonesia except where otherwise noted.
Ambon-AMQ
Banda Aceh-BTJ
Bandar Lampung-TKG
Bandung-BDO
Bangkok-BKK, Thailand
Batam-BTH
Belitung-TJQ
Bengkulu-BKS
Biak-BIK
Darwin-DRW, Australia
Denpasar-DPS
Ho Chi Minh City-SGN, Vietnam
Jakarta-CGK - Hub [Map Link]
Jambi-DJB - HQ and Hub [Map Link]
Kuala Lumpur-KUL, Malaysia
Langgur-LUV
Lombok/Praya-LOP
Makassar-UPG
Manado-MDC
Manila-MNL, Philippines
Manokwari-MKW
Merauke-MKQ
Nabire-NBX
Padang-PDG
Palembang-PLM
Palu-PLW
Pekanbaru-PKU
Pontianak-PNK
Singapore-SIN, Singapore
Surabaya-SUB - Hub [Map Link]
Tahuna-NAH
Taraken-TRK
Ternate-TTE
Timika-TIM
Wamena-WMX
Fleet
Current Fleet
JambiJet’s fleet currently includes the following aircraft.
† = JStream original aircraft
Airbus A320-200 - 2013-Present - Retiring early 2025
Airbus A320neo - 2017-Present
Aria T102 Transonic - 2023-Present †
Aria T152 Transonic - 2024-Present †
Aria T202 Transonic - 2024-Present †
Future Fleet
JambiJet has placed a firm order for the following aircraft, and are expecting to begin taking deliveries of them in the near future.
† = JStream original aircraft
Aria S102 Supersonic - expected 2025 †
=Nota Bene=
JambiJet never existed in real life, and is not particularly inspired by any one Indonesian carrier.
There is an airline in Kenya named JamboJet operating in Kenya. JambiJet is not related.
There is a Batik Air based in Indonesia that coincidentally uses Batik patterns on their aircraft. JambiJet is not related. I wanted to create a completely independent carrier instead of a subsidiary like Batik Air, which is a part of the real-life Lion Air Group. So I created JambiJet from scratch.
The character Budiwati Angkasa isn’t based on any real life person. Her first name means “wise one” in Bahasa Indonesia, the national language of Indonesia, while her surname means “sky.” Everything else about her is fictitious, including her appearance, which was randomly generated from scratch.
About Batik… you can read more about it here, but long story short, Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of wax with a spouted tool called a Canting, or by printing the wax with a copper stamp called a Cap. The applied wax resists dyes and therefore allows the artisan to colour selectively by soaking the cloth in one color, removing the wax with boiling water, and repeating as needed if multiple colors are desired.
I’ve been aware of Batik as a fashion item since the 1990s, following a visit to a Batik factory in the Caribbean while on vacation there.I discovered Batik Air’s usage of Batik on its aircraft only recently, after I had already created JambiJet. My decision to use Batik patterns on JambiJet’s tails was actually inspired by some of the tail patterns painted on JetBlue aircraft, which are also designed for each individual aircraft. I was surprised to find that apparently Batik Air only uses a persistent set of 2-3 Batik patterns across their fleet, which look cool btw. But for JambiJet I wanted more colorful and variable patterns; hopefully I’ve achieved that.
Lastly, I have to confess that I didn’t know there was an actual place in Indonesia named Jambi - which is both a city and a province there - until about a year ago. I accidentally discovered this while doing a Google search for a song named “Jambi” by the US rock band Tool. The song is a track on their 4th studio album, 10,000 Days. Oddly enough, the song’s title has nothing to do with Indonesia at all - the song title was actually inspired by a puppet named Jambi the Genie from the popular American TV series Pee-wee's Playhouse.
I decided to base the airline in Jambi City even though it is only the 25th largest city in Indonesia. I reasoned that if Boston can be the 25th largest US city and still have 3 airline hubs (Delta Air Lines, JetBlue and Cape Air), then so could Jambi, which also has roughly the same population as Boston. I should add, though, that in real life Jambi’s airport isn’t very big; only 6 airlines serve it, and almost all of them fly only to Jakarta-CGK. Someone like Ms Angkasa would see this as an marketing opportunity for sure. 😊
All liveries depicted in this article were conceived and drawn by the Author.
Aria aircraft templates displayed in this article are fictional aircraft, whose original templates were drawn by the Author.
All other aircraft templates displayed in this article were licensed from Norebbo and augmented by the Author for display. Blank side view templates of these aircraft are available for purchase through ShopNorebbo.
Route Maps were created using Great Circle Map.