Tiger-backed Mandala resumes operations with focus on Indonesia’s largest routes

Indonesia's Mandala Airlines has resumed operations and emerged from bankruptcy as a new affiliate of Asian LCC group Tiger Airways. Mandala's first flight in 15 months operates today (05-Apr-2012) on one of Indonesia's largest domestic routes, Jakarta-Medan. But the new Mandala, which only operated domestic services before its Jan-2011 grounding, will focus primarily on international routes starting with Medan-Singapore and Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur.

Mandala last week announced Jakarta-Medan and Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur as its first two routes as a Tiger partner carrier, with flights commencing on 05-Apr-2012 and 04-May-2012, respectively. But Tiger's booking engine indicates that Mandala will start operating international flights earlier - on 20-Apr-2012 with one daily frequency on the Medan-Singapore route. More routes, primarily international but also some domestic, are expected to be added over the next few months as Mandala rapidly spools up its fleet of Tiger-sourced Airbus A320s.