US-based investment company Indigo Partners has acquired 49% of Indonesia’s Mandala Airlines, which is preparing to begin a re-fleeting with leased Airbus A320s.
Indigo, which owns a 24% stake in Singapore-based low-cost carrier Tiger Airways, had been in talks since early this year to acquire 49% of Mandala as part of a deal with Indonesian aviation services company Cardig International.
Cardig bought 100% of Mandala from the Indonesian military earlier this year in a 300 billion rupiah ($33 million) deal. Indigo has since been helping it source new aircraft to lease for the airline, which has 12 Boeing 737-200s – one of which was involved in a landing accident last week when it skidded off the runway at Tarakan, in the central province of East Kalimantan.
Principal in Indigo’s Singapore office Lim Liang Song says the deal to buy the 49% stake in Mandala was completed on 18 September. He adds that the airline’s re-fleeting is to begin this month with the first two of four leased A320s.
Source: Flight International
