A crash course in Indonesian airlines.

September 9th, 2008

I’m in the middle of researching my new book (see previous blog) and I’ve just started booking flights to and around Indonesia for the first leg of my big trip. According to the Lonely Planet’s 1975 ‘Southeast Asia on a shoestring’: ‘For a third world country Indonesia has an amazing number of airlines and flying can still be a real experience in this dull Jumbo age’. Of the six recommended airlines in the Indonesian chapter only three are still flying. I’m guessing that the three that aren’t (Sempati, Zamrud and Bouraq) probably ran out of planes. Indonesia ranks as one of the worst countries for air safety records (last year they were second behind the Democratic Republic of Congo for fatal crashes). In 2007 an aircraft ‘incident’ was recorded in Indonesia every nine to 10 days. Even their national carrier Garuda likes to fall out of the sky often and has one of the world’s worst safety records among national carriers (they’ve had 14 fatal accidents since 1950).

Good thing, though, is that the flights are cheap in Indonesia! I got a flight from Denpasar to Yogyakarta with (that well-known airline) Mandala for only $59. I’ve also booked flights with Garuda (I figured that they’ve just had a major crash, so they’re not due for one for a little while), Air Asia and Lion Air. It also gives me a few more airlines to add to my list. I’ve actually compiled a list of airlines that I’ve travelled with (I was bored one day!). It goes something like this…

Aeroflot
Air Caledonie
Air New Zealand
Air Pacific
Air France
Air Glaciers
Alitalia
All Nippon Airways
American Airlines
Ansett Australia
Avirex Gabon
Britannia Airways
British Airways
British Midland 
Cebu Pacific Air
Continental Airlines
Dan Air
Delta Air Lines
easyJet
Emirates Airlines
Ethiopian Airlines
Garuda Indonesia
Hinterland Aviation
Iberia Airlines
Interair South Africa
Jetstar
Kenya Airways
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
LanChile Airlines
Lauda Air
LOT Polish Airlines
Lufthansa
Malaysia Airlines
Monarch Airlines
Olympic Airways
Qantas Airways
Royal Air Maroc
South African Airways
Scandinavian Airlines
Singapore Airlines
Swissair
Thai Airways International
United Airlines
Uzbekistan Airways
Vietnam Airlines
Virgin Atlantic Airways
Virgin Blue Airlines
Yugoair

There are some airlines that I wouldn’t go on, though. Some of the ones that I found on Wikipedia List of Airlines even sound dodgy: Jubba Airways (Somalia); Aerotaxi (Cuba); Samaritan Tree’s Air (Haiti); Lucky Air (China); Sky Horse Airlines (Mongolia); and Yak Air (Russia). Have you been on an obscure or dodgy airline before?

5 Responses to “A crash course in Indonesian airlines.”

  • On September 9th, 2008 jACK said:

    Get your facts straight, Ansett Airlines have been gone since 2001, so how much did you really research hey?

  • On September 9th, 2008 brianthacker said:

    Thanks jack, but the list is airlines that I’ve travelled with over the years and Ansett is not the only one that’s gone. So has Dan Air, Yugoair and Swissair. And Britannia Airways has become Thompsonfly!

  • On September 9th, 2008 chris said:

    When flying from Bali to Lombok with my family in 1995, I looked out to see a suspicious black liquid trailing from the engine. Lucky the flight wasnt vey long.

  • On October 7th, 2008 Vincent said:

    Question: did you ever fly on TAA or Australian Airlines (some of the names Qantas have used)?

  • On October 10th, 2008 brianthacker said:

    Hi Vincent

    No I didn’t go ‘up,up and awayyy with TAA with friendly way’ but I did fly on Australian Airlines, so I can add that one to my list as well.

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