Lion Mentari Airlines

History

Lion Air was founded in October 1999 by brothers Rusdi Kirana and Kusnan Kirana and began commercial operations on 30 June 2000, rapidly expanding to become Indonesia's largest privately-owned airline by exploiting the country's deregulated, low-cost domestic aviation boom. The airline's growth has been shadowed by a poor early safety record, including runway and landing accidents through the 2000s, which contributed to Indonesian carriers being placed on the EU air-safety blacklist (lifted for Lion Air in June 2016); its reputation was further damaged by the crash of Lion Air Flight 610, a Boeing 737 MAX 8, on 29 October 2018, which killed all 189 people aboard and became a central case in the global 737 MAX grounding.

Current Operations

Lion Air remains Indonesia's largest airline, operating a mixed fleet of Boeing 737 MAX and classic 737 variants, Airbus A320-family aircraft, and Airbus A330-900s, with more than 630 flights a day across an extensive domestic and regional international network. It is the flagship carrier of the Lion Group, which also owns Indonesian sister carriers Wings Air, Batik Air, and Super Air Jet, plus affiliated foreign units such as Thai Lion Air and Malindo/Batik Air Malaysia. Lion Air operates from its main base at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta and is not a member of any global airline alliance.

Last verified 2026-09-02· Source: airline public disclosures, company press releases & aviation-industry reporting.

Serves These Profiled Airports6

Sample Routes2