Adam Air Picking Up After Slump

By Barrie | September 13th, 2007 | No Comments

The number of passengers flying on low-cost carrier Adam Air has picked up after a significant slump immediately after the crash of one of its planes earlier this year, a corporate executive said.

“There was a slowdown in the month following the crash, but it was brief and we managed to get back our passengers over the following three months, with a gradual increase of 10 percent per month,” Adam Air corporate communications head Danke Dradjat told The Jakarta Post by phone.

He acknowledged that Adam Air, which carries between 450,000 and 600,000 passengers a month, lost around 30 percent of its passengers in the wake of the Boeing 737-400 crash offshore West Sulawesi on New Year’s day.

“There wasn’t any special campaign to get the passengers back. We only emphasized the fact that our aircraft were maintained and serviced by the same technicians as Garuda Indonesia,” he said.

Danke added that customer understanding might also have been a factor in the recovery.

“Well, eventually people were able to accept the fact that it was an unexpected tragedy, after all, especially since accidents have also affected major carriers,” he argued.
Danke said he was certain the trend would continue.

Adam Air currently has up to 150 flights a day, including to Singapore, and Penang in Malaysia.

“We’re expecting up to a 30 percent increase in passengers in the seven days before and after the Idul Fitri festivities,” Danke said, adding that the number of passengers usually peaked over Idul Fitri, Christmas and the New Year.

Earlier Monday, Adam Air launched the application of a barcode boarding pass system called Boarding Guard to provide more accurate, secure, efficient and convenient check-in and boarding procedures.

“If conventional boarding takes around 20 minutes for 170 passengers, the new barcode scanning system will reduce the process to just 10 minutes,” business development officer Retno Hardjanti told a media briefing at the Hotel Sultan. “The new system will also help prevent operational mistakes, like passengers entering the wrong departure lounge or even getting on the wrong aircraft.”

The digital barcode permits the storage of important information, ranging from a passenger’s name to boarding time, seat and gate numbers.

Adam Air has invested US$1 million on equipping its offices at 22 airports across the country with the digital system, which is part of the airline’s campaign to enhance travel safety and security.