Edition 58
Sometime last month, Batik Air Indonesia withdrew its sole frequency to Chennai from Kuala Lumpur, yes you read it right, Kuala Lumpur but one which originated in Indonesia. It all began when AirAsia wanted to relaunch flights to Mumbai, from Kuala Lumpur. There were no rights left under the Bilateral Air Services Agreement. It came up with a brilliant idea to deploy its subsidiary Indonesia AirAsiaX’s A330 from Bali to Mumbai via Kuala Lumpur, with full rights to carry passengers between Mumbai and Kuala Lumpur. The Kuala Lumpur – Bali leg also had those rights. This helped the airline offer a service which was not possible otherwise. AirAsia Bhd. did operate to Mumbai in the past with the A340s. When it withdrew those during the tough times, Malindo (now Batik Air) took those rights and started flights with the B737s.
As this trick played out, rival Lion Air group picked up the same trick to serve a market where it was not present due to lack of bilaterals. The Kuala Lumpur – Chennai market is one of the densest between India and Malaysia and the Malaysian side had no rights left. Malindo, thus could not enter this market. What did it do? Batik Air Indonesia – part of the Lion Air group, which also owns Malindo (now Batik Air) started flights to Chennai from Jakarta and Medan, via Kuala Lumpur – thus offering services on the Kuala Lumpur – Chennai sector.
Much water has flown under the bridge since then, with Indonesia AirAsia X not only suspending this flight but getting dissolved as a company, Garuda Indonesia launching and withdrawing non-stop Denpasar Mumbai flights and more. Now, the last of the flights have been withdrawn. Interestingly, it is perfectly legal to operate such flights and no country can object to it. A brilliant method which was found, hardly lasted though. When this began, Indian carriers had 0 presence in Indonesia, while today we are on the verge of exhausting all our rights.
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