French jet manufacturer Dassault Falcon, a subsidiary of Dassault Aviation, hopes to persuade affluent Indonesians to buy more of its jets in the next five years, on the back of a growing economy and lack of similar services.
The company currently has only one Indonesian owner of its jets, even though it regards the country as an important market for private jets in Southeast Asia.
Malaysia is its largest Southeast Asian market right now with nine Dassault Falcon jets, followed by Singapore with two.
“Maybe it was our fault for forgetting this country Indonesia. We are back now to develop this market,” Dassault Falcon Asia Pacific president Jean-Michel Jacob said on Thursday.
Data from the company show that there were 52 business jets owned and operated in Indonesia in 2015, a 16 percent increase from the figure in 2014. The growth rate was higher than the overall 6 percent growth across Asia.
Dassault Falcon, whose group is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, expects Indonesia to have the largest fleet of business jets in Southeast Asia within the next
three years.
Geography-wise, Jacob said Indonesia was strategically located as an international crossroads. “Business jet sales grow when the economy grows,” he said, claiming that the country was “on the verge of becoming important”.
The Indonesian economy recovered slightly in the second quarter as the GDP expanded by 5.2 percent year-on-year (yoy), higher than the 4.9 percent yoy GDP in the
first quarter.
The company will focus on private customers, especially tycoons and the chairmen of big corporations, to achieve its ambitions.
“What is more important is having big corporations. If you’re not interested in expanding the business, you will not invest in a business jet, because it costs a lot of money. Why should you buy an aircraft if you go only once every month to Europe?”
The company estimates that its Indonesian market can be expanded to accommodate at least 100 companies as businessmen crave comfort during long-haul flights.
It boasts that its new Falcon 8X jet series has the ultra-long range capability to fly to Cape Town, South Africa, from Jakarta without having to make a transit stop.
It aims to make its brand more known in the Indonesian market by establishing partnerships and offering private invitations.
The country’s position as an archipelago comprising over 17,000 islands has made air transportation the most efficient means of getting around, including to remote areas with limited-length runways, which is a potential that the company is willing to explore.
However, Transportation Ministry Regulation No. 66/2015 on noncommercial and chartered foreign aircraft stipulates that foreign-registered jets can only fly international flights to and from Indonesia’s international airports, barring such jets from domestic flights.
Transportation Ministry senior adviser on public communication and international affairs Dewa Made Sastrawan said the ministry was mulling whether to revise the regulation.
“The minister,Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi, basically believes that the regulation should make the business climate more conducive,” he said, but added that the revision might not be concluded this year.
If realized, the revision will provide an opening for Dassault Falcon and other foreign companies into the Indonesian business jet market.
As reported before, an improved business climate is a top goal that the current administration says it wants to achieve.
It has issued 13 economic stimulus packages since September, which include the removal of restrictions in several sectors paving the way for foreign investor participation.