Sempati Air

Sempati Air was an airline based in Indonesia. Partially owned by friends and family of President Suharto of Indonesia, the airline folded due to bankruptcy after his May 1998 resignation. Its IATA Code has since been reassigned to SpiceJet.

History

Sempati Air Airbus A300 at Perth Airport in the early 1990s

Sempati Air, (IATA Code: SG ICAO Code: SSR Callsign: Spirow) was founded in December 1968 by PT.Tri Utama Bhakti (PT.Truba) under the name PT Sempati Air Transport and began flights in March of the following year using Douglas DC-3 aircraft. In the beginning, the airline did not offer regularly scheduled services, instead it offered transportation for oil company workers, but soon thereafter more DC-3s were purchased and the airline received a number of Fokker F27 "Friendship', allowing the introduction of regularly scheduled flights to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Manila were begun. The name Sempati was taken from Sampati, a mythical bird in Hindu mythology. In its early days, Sempati were referred by some people as "Sembilan Panglima Tinggi" because on its founding, The Indonesian Army's Kostrad was also involved in its operations.

In 1975, a Boeing 707 was leased from Pelita Air for flights between Denpasar and Tokyo but the route was turned over to Garuda Indonesia by the Indonesian government. From some information, Sempati also leased an additional Boeing 707, possibly from Thailand. After 1977, the DC-3s were phased out in favor of the newer, more modern F27s. After this, the airline was unable to acquire other types of aircraft as the government placed restrictions on private airlines against buying new equipment and it was not until the mid-to-late 1980s that the Fokker 100 and the Boeing 737-200 were introduced into the fleet.

In the late 1980s, Hutama Mandala Putra (Tommy Soeharto) purchased Sempati and distributed it among three investors: Tri Utama Bhakti, Humpuss and Nusantara Ampera Bhakti (Nusamba).

After the buyout, the airline expanded rapidly in the early 1990s. Hasan Soedjono The CEO of Sempati, has planned a five-year leap to reach the Sempati main target to become the one of Southeast Asia's largest airlines after Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways International. The airline also had expansion plans towards Europe with the introduction of the Jakarta-Abu Dhabi route.

However, financial difficulties soon plagued the airline - its expansion plans were ruined as it was unable to buy new Boeing 767 aircraft and Garuda Indonesia, who originally planned to sell its DC-10s to the airline, backed out, leading the airline to eventually purchase Airbus A300 aircraft from Pan Am. With the introduction of the A300, the airline soon began commercial service to new destinations in Asia and Australia.

In 1994, the airline changed its name to Sempati Air. In that timeframe, the airline became Indonesia's best, being the launch customer of the Fokker F70 and offered the best in-flight service in the country. In 1996, just as the airline planned its IPO, its debt became known and was listed on the Red Category, a sign of too much debt. With continued financial problems, its CEO was replaced and many aircraft were sold or returned to lessors, but it was too late to save the airline, which filed for bankruptcy due to the 1997 Asian Monetary Crisis.^[1]

Until mid-1998, Sempati Air flew to a wide variety of destinations, including Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Solo, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Mataram, Kupang, Dili, Medan, Padang, Pekanbaru, Batam, Tanjung Pinang, Palangkaraya, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan, Tarakan, Manado, Palu, Kendari, Makassar, Ambon, Jayapura, Timika, and Perth (Western Australia).^[2]

Historical Fleet

**Sempati Air Historical Fleet**
Type	Number
Airbus A300B4-203	4
Boeing 707-320	2
Boeing 737-281	6
Boeing 767-300	2(Cancelled)
Douglas DC-3
Fokker F100	7 (to TAM
Fokker F70	2
Fokker F27 "Friendship"	4

Incidents and Accidents

In 1990, Sempati Fokker F27,registered as PK-JFF crashed on Surabaya when used on Training Flight. This flight didn't carry any passengers.
In 1994, Trigana Air Fokker F27, operated by Sempati Air crashed on Bandung, Near Sulaiman Airfield. The plane lost stability after takeoff from Hussein Sastranegara Airport.
On 16 January 1995,Sempati Air Boeing 737-200,registered as PK-JHF with Nosename "Pink Rose" experienced a skid on Adisucipto International Airport. There were no fatalities in this Accident, although the plane was written off and scrapped.

References

↑ Airlines Remembered by BI Hengi, Publisher Midland Publishing
↑ http://bisnis.liputan6.com/read/708838/sempati-air-matinya-maskapai-kontroversial-dengan-segunung-utang

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sempati Air.

Airlines of Indonesia

Full service	Batik Air Garuda Indonesia¹

Hybrid/Medium service	Kalstar Aviation Sriwijaya Air XpressAir

Low cost carriers	Citilink Indonesia AirAsia Indonesia AirAsia X Lion Air

Regional	Aviastar Jhonlin Air Transport Kaltim Airlines Nam Air Susi Air TransNusa Air Services Trigana Air Service Wings Air

Charter	Air Born Airmark Indonesia Air Regional Airfast Indonesia Deraya Air Taxi EastIndo Gatari Air Service Indonesia Air Transport Mimika Air Mission Aviation Fellowship Nusantara Air Charter Pelita Air Service Premiair Transwisata Prima Aviation Travira Air

Cargo	Auvia Air Cardig Air Cargo Garuda Indonesia Manunggal Air Service My Indo Airlines Papua Indonesia Air System Post Ekspres Prima Republic Express Airlines Tri-MG Intra Asia Airlines

Planned	Jatayu Airlines Kalimantan Air Service Penas Air Riau Airlines

Defunct	Adam Air Air Efata Air Paradise Asia Avia Airlines Bali Air Batavia Air Bayu Indonesia Bouraq Indonesia Airlines De Kroonduif Dirgantara Air Service Indonesian Airlines Kalimantan Air Service Kartika Airlines KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf KNILM Linus Airways Megantara Air Merpati Nusantara Airlines Nurman Avia Nusantara Buana Air Pacific Royale Airways Penas Air Riau Airlines Sabang Merauke Raya Air Charter Sempati Air Seulawah Nad Air Star Air (Indonesia) Sky Aviation Tigerair Mandala Top Air

¹ Flag carrier.

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, October 13, 2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.