Indonesia’s largest airline, Lion Air, recently unveiled its plan to establish a joint venture airline in Vietnam.
According to Jakarta Post, the company will operate in Vietnam under the brand Batik Air, which is expected to start operating flights by the second quarter of next year. At the signing of the deal’s memorandum of understanding (MoU) last Tuesday, Lion Air president director Edward Sirait also shared with the news source that the firm is currently negotiating with a local partner.
The contract dictates that 40% of Batik Air’s profits will go to Lion Air while its local partner will take 51%. No more details about the agreement are available at the moment.
In recent years, the size of Vietnam’s middle-class has increased considerably, leading to a surge in goods and services catering to the nation’s nouveau riche, from glamorous malls to new, more affordable flights to regional locations like Hong Kong, Taipei and, most recently, Japan.
[Photo via Flickr user Clément Alloing]
