SSR SPIROW Frequent-flyer program Preferred Connection Founded 16 December 1968 Fleet size 25 | Commenced operations March 1969 Headquarters Jakarta Ceased operations June 5, 1998 | |
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Operating bases Secondary hubs Husein Sastranegara International Airport
Achmad Yani Airport
Adisucipto International Airport Focus cities Polonia International Airport
Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport
Perth Airport Hubs Ngurah Rai International Airport | ||
Sempati air in memories
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.
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Indonesia demise of sempati airlines
History
Sempati Air (IATA code: SG; ICAO code: SSR; call sign: 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 F27s, and 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" (nine senior commanders) the Indonesian Army Strategic Reserve Command 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. 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 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, Tommy Suharto 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, planned a five-year leap to achieve the target of becoming one of Southeast Asia's largest airlines after Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways International. The airline also had plans to expand into Europe with the introduction of a 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, which 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 services to new destinations in Asia and Australia.
In 1994, the airline changed its name to Sempati Air. The airline was the launch customer of the Fokker 70. In 1996, just as the airline was planning a share flotation, its debt became known and it was listed in 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 financial crisis.
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).