Indonesian carrier Batavia Air commences operations at Singapore Changi Airport today, 25 November 2009. Batavia will operate daily flights between Singapore and the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Semarang. The eighth new airline to commence operations at Changi Airport this year, Batavia’s commencement of operations signals its confidence in the traffic potential between Singapore and Indonesia.

Batavia Air will operate two daily flights each between Singapore and Jakarta, and Singapore and Semarang. Including Batavia, 12 airlines operate a total of 450 weekly scheduled passenger flights between Singapore and Jakarta. Batavia is the only airline operating between Singapore and the port city of Semarang via 14 weekly scheduled flights. Semarang, the capital of Central Java, is Indonesia’s fifth largest city.

Indonesia is one of Singapore’s largest markets for air travel. Despite the economic downturn, passenger traffic between Singapore and Indonesia continued to grow in the first ten months of 2009 with an increase of 4.3% compared to the same period last year. Including Batavia Air, 14 airlines now operate passenger services between Singapore and 12 cities in Indonesia via more than 750 weekly scheduled flights. With the addition of Batavia Air, Changi Airport is served by 86 scheduled airlines operating more than 4,880 weekly scheduled flights to 201 cities in 60 countries and territories.