Mandala Airlines Airbus A319-100 PK-RMF
Mandala Airlines is a low cost carrier based at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakart, Indonesia. It has a fleet of only Airbus A320’s and A319’s. The airline was founded in 1969 at a time that Indonesia was re-building a devastated economy.
In 2006 the airline sold 49% stake to Indigo Partners [they also have stakes in Spirit Airlines (USA), Wizz (Europe), Tiger (Singapore), and Abnanova Airlines (Russia)]. With the change, the airline replaced its aging fleet with new Airbus aircraft. The airline currently have 30 additional aircraft on order and hope to grow at a rate of 25% per year.
The airline’s logo is a golden eight-pointed mandala showing the eight characters of humanity and the eight elements of Javanese tradition. The five-petaled lotus in the center represents Indonesia’s state ideology, Pancasila.
Thank you @racingwinds for this livery idea! If you have a mostly unknown, current airline livery you like, let me know and I might use it (da***@ai*************.com).
Mandala Airlines Website
Image: Achdiyatma Reza
Garuda Indonesia, Airbus A330, PK-GPA departing JFK, New York, USA. Sept 2007
After a series of accidents, the European Union (EU) banned all flights based in Indonesia in June 2007. Garuda Airlines, Airfast Indonesia, Mandala Airlines and Premiair were all taken off the ban list recently and will have the right to fly in EU airspace. The European Commission, who removed the ban, stated “significant improvements and accomplishments of the Indonesian civil aviation authority are recognized in the area of safety”.
EU Transport Commissioner, Antonio Tajani is hoping this (and the recent Yemenia Airlines crash) will renew the debate with having international blacklist of airlines felt to be unsafe.
With airlines from the around the world having different safety regulations, having some formal and easy way to rate the safest and least-safe airlines would be beneficial, but maybe not possible. Who would police the list? Who would determine the criteria? Could one country or organization step up to create a list that the flying public could reference when choosing an airline?
Image: Tom Turner