Lion Air’s founders planning to launch new airline in Indonesia

The founders of Indonesia’s Lion Mentari Airlines are planning to start a new airline, according to people familiar with the plan, a development that could aid the carrier’s efforts to move beyond one of aviation’s biggest disasters. The new carrier is a project started by Lion’s founders including Rusdi Kirana, said the people. Lion Air has been trying to move forward from a deadly crash in 2018, which was blamed on design flaws in Boeing’s 737 Max jet, as well as a raft of errors at the airline by pilots and mechanics. Boeing said it has settled 90% of the wrongful death claims as of July. Budi Prayitno, a spokesman for the transport ministry confirmed it’s processing one application for an air operator certificate, while declining to reveal more details. Lion Air’s spokesman Danang Prihantoro declined to comment on the matter. The new carrier could give the founders a fresh start, said Shukor Yusof, founder of aviation consulting firm Endau Analytics in Malaysia. “Don’t underestimate Rusdi,” he said. Closely held Lion has better leverage ratios than its Southeast Asian rivals and many 737 Max orders that can prove valuable once the pandemic subsides, he added. “There may be a method to the madness.”<br/>