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Aircraft Manufacturers Keep Betting on Indonesia
Singapore. Conrado Dornier is a little bit nostalgic and excited when thinking of Indonesia. The county has always provided inspiration to his family and now may hold the key to reviving the family’s flying boat glory.
The chairman of Dornier Seawings, a joint venture between the Dornier family and two fully owned Chinese state enterprises, is pushing a global marketing effort this year for the Dornier Seastar — a 12-seat, carbon-fiber, flying boat designed by his father Claudius Dornier Jr back in the 80's.
“My father was thinking of Indonesia when he designed the airplane,” Conrad Dornier told Indonesian reporters visiting his booth at Singapore Airshow 2016 recently.
Conrad’s grandfather, the famous aircraft maker Claudius Dornier, rose to prominence in the 1920's, selling iconic all-metal flying boats, like the Dornier Wal and Do X, that sold well among the Dutch in the East Indies at the time.
The country's 17,000 islands and sometime extreme geography demand for more air transport options, he said, particularly for island-hopping or special missions in remote areas.
“Indonesia is definitely a market that we want to enter,” Conrado Dornier said.
Optimistic outlook
Dornier echoes sentiments of larger manufacturers. They remain defiant of their prospects in the largest economy in Southeast Asia, whose 250 million population and growing wealth would ensure sustained demand for air travel.
Despite headwind due to the collapse in prices for coal, palm oil and other commodities that have been put a halt on its economy in the past two years, major jet manufacturers Boeing and Airbus were seeing no deferred deliveries or cancellation requests from their customers, according to a report from Reuters.
“The GDP growth is not as much as we like it to be. But the fundamental remain. The number of the middle class population still growing, and in our business that is what really matter,” said Patrick de Castelbajac, president director of ATR, a French-Italian turboprop aircraft manufacturer.
Indonesia could see 137 million passengers in 2020, making it into one of the world's top 10 aviation market, according to projections by the International Air Transport Association. The marker would in the top five by 2034, boasting 270 million passengers, IATA projects.
ATR is still to deliver 40 turboprop aircraft to Lion Air group and 25 others to the country flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia over the next three years, accounting a lion share of its $2.6 billion worth of plane backlog in the Southeast Asia region.
ATR now dominate 70 percent of short haul routes in the country, and confident that its efficient turboprop technology will continue to buoy its market share.
Replacement, business market
Embraer Commercial Aviation, the unit of Brazilian aerospace conglomerate Embraer, also expects to win new customers in Indonesia, eyeing to replace old jets in the country with its narrow body jets E190 and E195.
The Transport Ministry last year capped operation age for aircraft in the archipelago to 30 years from a previous 35 years, meaning more jets would soon need replacing.
“Indonesia would need many more 70-130 seat jets to serve growing business travel between its islands as its economic grow,” John Slattery, the chief commercial officer at Embraer, told the Jakarta Globe. Today only two Embraer E195s in operation in Indonesia with Kalimantan-based airline Kalstar Aviation.
Others are focusing on an even narrower market segment. French business jet manufacturer Dassault Falcon Jet has sold only one falcon to a cigarette tycoon in Indonesia so far, but it will revamp presence to seek more customers.
“Our market in Indonesia is still very small and that mean there is ample room for growth,” Andrew Ponzoni, Dassault's senior communication manager, said.
Square one
For Dornier, the company, it's back to square one. Decades have passed since then president Sukarno traveled the archipelago in a Dornier plane left by the Dutch to visit his electorates.
State-owned Merpati Airlines, which eyed to take in 13 Dornier Seastar flying boats back in 2013 is now dormant due to heavy debts. Today, the company is still in talks with several local entities to represent them in the country.
But, Conrado Dornier keeps optimistic Indonesia could hold his company’s future.
“Unlike Europe, you have vast seas and you will definitely need airplanes like ours,” Conrado said.
Jakarta Globe | Your City, Your World, Your Indonesia | Jakarta Globe
Singapore. Conrado Dornier is a little bit nostalgic and excited when thinking of Indonesia. The county has always provided inspiration to his family and now may hold the key to reviving the family’s flying boat glory.
The chairman of Dornier Seawings, a joint venture between the Dornier family and two fully owned Chinese state enterprises, is pushing a global marketing effort this year for the Dornier Seastar — a 12-seat, carbon-fiber, flying boat designed by his father Claudius Dornier Jr back in the 80's.
“My father was thinking of Indonesia when he designed the airplane,” Conrad Dornier told Indonesian reporters visiting his booth at Singapore Airshow 2016 recently.
Conrad’s grandfather, the famous aircraft maker Claudius Dornier, rose to prominence in the 1920's, selling iconic all-metal flying boats, like the Dornier Wal and Do X, that sold well among the Dutch in the East Indies at the time.
The country's 17,000 islands and sometime extreme geography demand for more air transport options, he said, particularly for island-hopping or special missions in remote areas.
“Indonesia is definitely a market that we want to enter,” Conrado Dornier said.
Optimistic outlook
Dornier echoes sentiments of larger manufacturers. They remain defiant of their prospects in the largest economy in Southeast Asia, whose 250 million population and growing wealth would ensure sustained demand for air travel.
Despite headwind due to the collapse in prices for coal, palm oil and other commodities that have been put a halt on its economy in the past two years, major jet manufacturers Boeing and Airbus were seeing no deferred deliveries or cancellation requests from their customers, according to a report from Reuters.
“The GDP growth is not as much as we like it to be. But the fundamental remain. The number of the middle class population still growing, and in our business that is what really matter,” said Patrick de Castelbajac, president director of ATR, a French-Italian turboprop aircraft manufacturer.
Indonesia could see 137 million passengers in 2020, making it into one of the world's top 10 aviation market, according to projections by the International Air Transport Association. The marker would in the top five by 2034, boasting 270 million passengers, IATA projects.
ATR is still to deliver 40 turboprop aircraft to Lion Air group and 25 others to the country flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia over the next three years, accounting a lion share of its $2.6 billion worth of plane backlog in the Southeast Asia region.
ATR now dominate 70 percent of short haul routes in the country, and confident that its efficient turboprop technology will continue to buoy its market share.
Replacement, business market
Embraer Commercial Aviation, the unit of Brazilian aerospace conglomerate Embraer, also expects to win new customers in Indonesia, eyeing to replace old jets in the country with its narrow body jets E190 and E195.
The Transport Ministry last year capped operation age for aircraft in the archipelago to 30 years from a previous 35 years, meaning more jets would soon need replacing.
“Indonesia would need many more 70-130 seat jets to serve growing business travel between its islands as its economic grow,” John Slattery, the chief commercial officer at Embraer, told the Jakarta Globe. Today only two Embraer E195s in operation in Indonesia with Kalimantan-based airline Kalstar Aviation.
Others are focusing on an even narrower market segment. French business jet manufacturer Dassault Falcon Jet has sold only one falcon to a cigarette tycoon in Indonesia so far, but it will revamp presence to seek more customers.
“Our market in Indonesia is still very small and that mean there is ample room for growth,” Andrew Ponzoni, Dassault's senior communication manager, said.
Square one
For Dornier, the company, it's back to square one. Decades have passed since then president Sukarno traveled the archipelago in a Dornier plane left by the Dutch to visit his electorates.
State-owned Merpati Airlines, which eyed to take in 13 Dornier Seastar flying boats back in 2013 is now dormant due to heavy debts. Today, the company is still in talks with several local entities to represent them in the country.
But, Conrado Dornier keeps optimistic Indonesia could hold his company’s future.
“Unlike Europe, you have vast seas and you will definitely need airplanes like ours,” Conrado said.
Jakarta Globe | Your City, Your World, Your Indonesia | Jakarta Globe
