Indonesia's Lion Air has firmed up its 2009 options for 15 ATR 72-500s to be operated by subsidiary Wings Air.
The order for the 72-seat aircraft takes Wings Air's ATR fleet to 30, with the company having previously ordered 15 ATR 72-500s in 2009, with 15 options.
Wings introduced the new ATR 72-500s in Indonesia in January 2010 and 10 of the aircraft are already in operation.
With the delivery of the 15 additional aircraft, Wings Air and Lion Air will become ATR's largest customer in South-East Asia, says the airframer.
The purchase will help Wings boost feeder capacity into Lion Air's Boeing 737-900ER network.
The carrier will develop new routes from and to Sumatra, Sulawesi and Java, as well as connecting big cities within one hour's flying range, like Surabaya and Denpasar.
Pak Rusdi Kirana, chairman of Wings Air and president director of Lion Air, says: "Our increasing fleet of modern ATR aircraft is making a strong contribution to the growth of our national economy."
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
