Lion Air Stands Firm on Canceling $22 Billion Boeing Jet Orders
- Carrier maintains plan to expand its fleet to 1,000 aircraft
- Airline is considering listing its Indonesian unit in 2019
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Lion Air Mentari’s owner is sketching out plans to become one of the world’s largest budget carriers, while also preparing to scrap $22 billion in Boeing Co. jet orders out of anger at the manufacturer’s response to an October air disaster.
Rusdi Kirana, the co-founder of Lion Air, Indonesia’s biggest airline, mapped out the seemingly contradictory goals in an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday. The crash that killed all 189 people aboard a Boeing 737 Max won’t derail his ambition to expand the budget carrier to an eventual fleet of 1,000 aircraft, he said. Lion Air may also list its Indonesian unit in 2019, he added.