Sparrow Group Media Relations

Sparrow Group - Newsroom is a thread for news and headlines about the airlines operated by the Sparrow Group. This service is published in English in the interest of the international audience. It is the best way to keep all interested AS-managers updated about headlines, developments, and relevant stories related to Sparrow Group from Indonesia and abroad.

Thank you very much for your interest!

Introduction to Sparrow Air

Sparrow Air is by far the biggest airline within the Sparrow Group with more than 39.300 employees.

The airline maintains their headquarters at Jakarta Soekarno Hatta-airport. Jakarta also acts as the most important and biggest hub for Sparrow Air with more than 3.860 departures per week.

The company also maintains hub-operations at key Indonesian airports:

- Denpasar-Bali (over 1.500 departures per week)

- Medan (more than 1.900 departures per week)

- Surabaya (more than 1.300 departures per week)

- Ujung Pandang (more than 1.800 departures per week)

Sparrow Air´s intention of several hubs is the aim to optimize the network, flight schedules, and available connections demanded by Indonesian people and citizens from around the world.

Sparrow Air is pleased to serve 140 destinations as of September 2014 with an operational fleet of 416 aircraft with capacities ranging from 90 to 242 seats. All aircraft provide Business Class and Economy Class. Selected aircraft provide a three-class service with First Class, Business Class and Economy Class.

Here is a short overview of the operational fleet as of September 2014:

33 Airbus A318/319

73 Airbus A320/321

88 Boeing 717

88 Boeing 757

01 Boeing 787

42 Douglas DC-9

62 Douglas MD-80/-87

29 Douglas MD-90

Regional subsidiaries

Sparrow Air established three subsidiaries as part of our strategy to provide convenient and swift services within Indonesia and to neighboring countries - namely Sparrow Commuter, Sparrow Connection, and Sparrow Regional Airlines. 

Sparrow Commuter provides a comprehensive network to 89 destinations, served with modern and versatile Dash 8s, Fokker 50s, and Let 410s. This airline allows Sparrow Air to provide connections to and from rural regions within Indonesia.

Sparrow Connection provides a comprehensive network to 73 destinations, served with Canadair Regional Jets, BAe ATPs as well as BAe Jetstream´s. Sparrow Connection allows Sparrow Air to offer convenient services on routes with generally lower demand with more suitably-sized aircraft.

Sparrow Regional Airlines provides services to 50 destinations, served with ATR-aircraft, Dash 7s as well as Embraer ERJ-145s. This airline only exists because the CEO is believed to be fond of the mentioned aircraft-types.

All mentioned airlines provide feeder-services to and from the hubs maintained by Sparrow Air.

Our focus

Our focus is to provide an affordable and friendly service with Indonesian hospitality.

Safety is our utmost concern. Stringent regulations ensure that Sparrow Air and all its subsidiaries maintain very high safety-standards.

Thank you very much for your attention!

Our partners

Sparrow Air maintains a long-standing partnership with highly-respected Air Malaysia. The combined networks provide an outstanding flight-schedule and ensure a very smooth and safe way to travel!

Sparrow Air also maintains IL´s with a large number of important, successful, and well-known airlines around the world. The IL´s with these airlines hugely contribute to the success of Sparrow Air and we are pleased to provide our services to these airlines vice versa. The importance of all IL´s can´t be underestimated!

Our experience shows – for example – that vital IL´s are important with airlines located in mainland Asia, Thailand, Vietnam, The Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and Australasia.

Additional IL´s are active with huge companies located in India, Europe, Near East, Africa, as well as the USA. These agreements allows Sparrow Air to offer services to all corners of the world and Sparrow Air is pleased to offer the most comprehensive network within Indonesia for all our partners!

Here is the list of all interlining-agreements as of September 2014 (in alphabetical order):

african airways

air angola

Air Bonsai

Air Koala Afrika

Air Malaysia (Strategic Partner)

Air Papua

Air Ronsen NZ

Air Solomon

Basel World Airways

CAMUXX AIRLINES

cawjaw papua new guinea

Dubai Airlines

Fly Drolshagen Asia

Hong Kong Worldwide

International Heavens Airline

Karnatak Air

Kazakhstan Airways

Korea International Flight

Kyrgyzstan Airways

National Australian Airways

Ocean Wings

Oriental Airlines

Pacific Star Airways

Philippine International Flight

Rod Air

Royal Australian

Saudair

Sheikh Airlines

Snooker Airways

Spirit of Asia

Transair Asia

Transair Azerbaijan

Transair Djibouti

Transair Mongolia

Xiao XIA

Xiaolin Airlines

Xiaolin Express

Thank you very much for your attention!

Sparrow Air adds new routes and aircraft

Sparrow Air has finalized agreements to lease five additional Airbus A318/319s as part of their ongoing plan to enter new markets and to increase frequencies on existing routes. The Airbus narrow-body fleet of Sparrow Air now numbers 111 aircraft, including 18 A318s, 20 A319s, 22 A320s, and 51 A321s.

The three additional A318s feature a very comfortable seating for 12 Business/ 88 Economy. Eleven of our 18 A318s now feature this configuration while seven A318s provide seating for 120 passengers each. The latest A318s will be used to inaugurate new routes as well as for increased frequencies in existing markets. The new routes are:

Surabaya – Sydney - Surabaya

Surabaya – Seoul – Surabaya

The two additional Airbus A319s will be used to enhance our hub at Medan with increased frequencies in existing markets and new routes:

Medan – Kathmandu – Medan

Medan – Islamabad – Medan

Medan – Shanghai – Medan

Sparrow Air hopes that the latest enhancements will be welcomed by the flying public with more choices to more destinations at affordable fares.

Meanwhile, regional subsidiary Sparrow Connection added a single 68-seat CRJ700 on lease, bringing the CRJ700-fleet to 26 aircraft. The airline also operates eight 84/86-seat CRJ900s and six 100-seat CRJ1000s and confirmed, that the company could add additional CRJs at favorable terms. 

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Press review:

Indonesian media report that the Sparrow Group is in advanced talks to purchase majority-stakes in fellow Indonesian companies TDA Trans Domestic Airlines and Wings Indonesia. Sparrow Air was not able to comment but reliable sources claim that Sparrow Group could have already "purchased controlling-interests of these two companies before asking the Indonesian competition authority".

TDA operates a fleet of more than 80 aircraft with 11 A300s, 7 DC-9s, 47 MD-80s, and 17 MD-90s. Wings Indonesia currently schedules more than 140 aircraft in a LCC-styled all-economy ops including 17 BAe 146/Avro RJs, 19 Fokker F28s, 28 Fokker 100s, 72 MD-80s, and 9 MD-90s.

It is known that both airlines recently asked for state-aids but their applications were refused due to strange financial behavior. Once source say that these airlines “can´t hope for help as long as there are doing business as usual and moaning at the same time”.

Industry-analysts claim that these two airlines could well-fit into Sparrow Air but a 100% integration of both airlines into Sparrow Air is unlikely.

Authorities often complained about the market-shares maintained by Sparrow Air and “it´s vital that the flying public should have more choices”. This could mean that these two airlines will be forced to continue as separate entities – even under control of Sparrow Air.

The CEO of Sparrow Air is believed to be very angry about TDA due to an occasion happened three days ago when a Let 410 of Sparrow Commuter with eight passengers and two crew was blown into a dig while taxiing behind the right-hand engine of an Airbus A300-600 of TDA at Jakarta. The CEO claimed that he watched from his window and was “aghast to see that the pilots of the A300 smiled at him and increased thrust while taxiing!” The Let 410 was taxiing behind the A300 and was blown into the dig with the cockpit-section first. The propellers continued to rotate and smashed huge amounts of water and mud onto the apron. No one was injured but the Indonesian aviation authority opened an investigation.

Indonesian aviation remains exciting! Stay tuned, thank you!

Meanwhile a German tourist filmed a safety demo aboard an MD-82 of Sparrow Air with seats formerly used by American Airlines ;) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07bAg2N1ifI

Another German tourist filmed his take-off in an MD-80 of Sparrow Air from Jakarta ;) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14P8heNx4lE

About 2 years ago I also flew on a DC-9-50 of Sparrow Air and we suffered hard landing. Wasn't the pilot's fault of course!!!

Couldn't resist. :D

ALL TIME GOOD FLY, OL' METAL!

I can´t see the photo :o  :(  :blush:  ;) .

Please try again!

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Sparrow Air adds two additional B757s, starts new services to six destinations

Sparrow Air leased two additional Boeing 757-200s, resulting in a fleet of 73 Boeing 757-200s operating alongside 17 Boeing 757-300s.

These two aircraft will allow Sparrow Air to start new services from Jakarta to:

- Beijing (PR China)

- Katherine (Australia)

- Kagoshima (Japan)

- Makung (Taiwan)

- Proserpine (Australia)

- Siem Reap (Cambodia)

Additionally, frequencies between Jakarta and Singapore, Ujung Pandang as well as to Medan were increased by two, three and one additional flights per week. The 757s are configured in a 3-class configuration for 187 passengers including a First Class for 16 guests and 171 Business/Economy.

The new destinations will be served two to three-times weekly and thus reflects the generally cautious approach of Sparrow Air towards the entry into new markets. A spokeswoman said that "Sparrow Air is confident that the new services will be well accepted by travelers who want to take the chance to get tickets at affordable fares".

Sparrow Air also confirmed plans to increase services to Russia from Indonesia. "There is probably a general demand but we need to be very cautious because we don´t think that daily flights will be feasible".

Thank you!

Btw. one enthusiast filmed one of our two 757-freighters ;) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k9hB7eONFw

Sparrow Air increases Airbus-fleet, adds new routes

Sparrow Air further enhanced their fleet with the commitment to lease ten additional aircraft of the Airbus A320-family at extremely favorable terms with the aim to optimize the offered flight-schedule. The company leased one A318, seven A319s, and two A321s.

These aircraft bolster the fleet and allows expand into untouched markets with new routes and to increase frequencies in existing markets.

The following enhancements are now bookable:

Jakarta – Brisbane

Jakarta – Bacolod

Medan – Aden

Medan – Bacolod

Medan – Changsha Huanghua

Medan – Darwin

Medan – Dhaka

Medan – Doha

Medan – Kupang

Medan – Novosibirsk

Medan – Taipei (Sung Shan)

Medan – Vientiane

Medan – Vishakhapatnam

Medan – Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk

Surabaya – Brisbane

Surabaya – Osaka

Ujung Pandang – Bacolod

Additionally, frequencies were increased from Surabaya and Medan to Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand as well as on the domestic front.

It is believed that Sparrow Air is especially pleased to add two Airbus A321-100s – a type highly regarded by the company for short haul-missions. One Indonesian aviation-expert said that the “A321-100 may be an “underpowered aircraft” but provides rock-bottom economics on shorter routes with a rather high capacity".

A spokesman of Sparrow Air said that “we are thrilled to add two additional of these very versatile aircraft to our schedule. Both 187-seat aircraft will be based at Ujung Pandang and allows us to increase frequencies between Ujung Pandang and Kuala Lumpur as well as Singapore”.  He adds that “the A321-100 is probably the best-suited aircraft in their category for our needs due to her efficiency, comfort and reliability as part of the A320-family. The A321-100 is surely not a powerful aircraft on a hot summer´s day on short runways, can´t climb like an MD-80 and needs every inch of it but as soon as the aircraft lifts off with her wings bending due to heavy payload, it makes huge amounts of money”!

Sparrow Air now schedules 53 Airbus A321-100/-200s alongside 19 A318s, 27 A319s, and 22 A320s.

One spotter catched our latest A321-100 on a rainy day at Balikpapan with her departure to Ujung Pandang:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GKgzsh8ir8

Meanwhile, Sparrow Connection leased 13 BAe ATP-freighter aircraft while Sparrow Regional Airlines decided to lease five ATR72-cargo aircraft. Both fleets augment passenger-configured aircraft of the same types at these companies.

The CEO of Sparrow Air will be at a conference next week in Singapore, discussing a number of topics with colleagues from other airline-partners while watching at his aircraft taking off and landing. He also agreed to make an interview during this conference and it will be published here as soon as all potentially problematic topics are wiped out and the interview looks fine for Sparrow Air.

Thank you!

Sparrow Air signs agreement with ARABIAN PEARLS

Sparrow Air is pleased to announce that agreement had been reached with ARABIAN PEARLS for an IL-agreement.

Doha-based ARABIAN PEARLS maintains a growing hub at Doha airport with 84 modern aircraft and more than 1880 weekly departures.

Sparrow Air currently operates four weekly flights between Doha and Medan with modern Airbus A319-equipment and the company aims to enhance the connections with at least one daily flight between Medan and Doha very soon.

We are very happy to offer connections through our new partner ARABIAN PERLS and provide our attractive network to ARABIAN PEARLS at the same time.

Thank you.

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Sparrow Air leased two additional Airbus A319s and increased frequencies between Doha and Medan to 18 weekly flights. This will ensure that all passengers will be able to get a seat on any flight offered by Sparrow Air for very attractive connections at Doha to ARABIAN PEARLS and connections at Medan to all other flights provided by Sparrow Air.

Sparrow Air adds five B757-300s, one A318

Sparrow Air signed deals for attractive leases concerning five additional Boeing 757-300s as well as one additional Airbus A318. The additional capacities are used for enhanced frequencies on existing domestic and regional routes and for new services from Chiang Mai (Thailand) to Medan and Ujung Pandang. At the same time, Sparrow Air decided to return their single Boeing 787-aircraft to retain the policy of efficient maintenance-structures.  The airline expects considerable reductions of maintenance-costs after this single aircraft was removed from the fleet.

A spokeswoman said that “Sparrow Air´s will be able to continue long-haul expansion with additional aircraft of the A320-family and/or Boeing 757s for the time being. We are constantly monitoring future adjustments while the current policy of using Boeing 757s and A319/320/321s on long-hauls works”.

Sparrow Air is also pleased to announce a new Interlining-agreement with CAMUXX ARGENTINA. CAMUXX ARGENTINA operates a vast network with more than 60 aircraft and Sparrow Air is pleased to offer connecting flights from Indonesia via Doha to Argentina.

Sparrow Air now operates the following active fleet at the beginning of October 2014:

Airbus:

22 x Airbus A318

29 x Airbus A319

22 x Airbus A320

53 x Airbus A321

126 Airbus-aircraft

Sparrow Air aims to add additional A32S-aircraft for cautious expansion.

Boeing:

88 x Boeing 717

74 x Boeing 757-200

22 x Boeing 757-300

184 Boeing-aircraft (88 B717 and 96 B757)

Sparrow Air aims to add additional Boeing 757 for cautious expansion.

There are no plans to add additional Boeing 717s.

Douglas:

04 x Douglas DC9-10

04 x Douglas DC9-20

17 x Douglas DC9-30

05 x Douglas DC9-40

12 x Douglas DC9-50

23 x Douglas MD81/82

02 x Douglas MD83

24 x Douglas MD87

13 x Douglas MD88

29 x Douglas MD90

133 Douglas-aircraft (42 DC9, 62 MD80, 29 MD90)

No changes are planned. Sparrow Air would be pleased to retrofit the entire MD-80-fleet with new hush-kits to comply with latest Chapter 4-regulations as well as with modified flight-decks to  allow optimized flight-profiles in the interest of improved efficiency.

--

Thank you!

Sparrow Air adds 17 aircraft

Sparrow Air signed agreements for attractive leases of thirteen additional Airbus A319s and four Boeing 757-200s. These additional capacities will be used to increase frequencies in existing markets as well as for new services. Main expansion will occur at Surabaya and Ujung Pandang through these additional aircraft.

New services from Ujung Pandang to Auckland, Nagoya, Nauru, Okinawa, and Saipan will be inaugurated shortly. Additionally, our network from Singapore will be further enhanced with a new daily flight to Jayapura, cutting flight-times dramatically for guests connecting from Singapore with the aim to experience nice and friendly tribes in Irian Jaya as well as Papua New Guinea waiting for these visitors.

A spokesman commented that “Ujung Pandang is traditionally the gateway to the vast eastern part of Indonesia but this airport gradually evolved into a hub for flights to mainland Asia and Australasia too. The addition of four highly-capable Boeing 757s is a major relief for our demand to provide capacities to new ports of call”.

The additional B757s will be configured in the popular arrangement for 16 First Class and 171 Business/Economy.

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A spotter catched one of our four DC-9-21s during active passenger-service in Indonesia. A group of German tourists (called "Wutbürger", literally translated angry citizen or fatter Big Mac Burger) complained about the noise and pollution of this aircraft but I told them that a German citizen produces more noise, pollution and uses more energy within a year compared to an Indonesian village with 200 people. I offered them to take a plane back to Germany and after landing they can protest against aviation and noisy aircraft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pj51bfKPckg

The CEO of  Sparrow Group and Sparrow Air is now back in the office after more than a month of living with lovely  orang-utans and no mobile-phone, no soap bar but with mosquitoes, leeches, and other very friendly creatures.

After he entered his office back in Jakarta, he noticed that orang-utans are able to manager daily business in a far better way than humans.

Members of the board informed me that due to false documents, financial discrepancies, and other strange occasions, two companies of Sparrow Air were forced to suspend their services.

The CEO of Sparrow Air decided to shift key responsible employees from their positions to new ones including explorations in the jungles of Papua New Guinea.

It is very difficult to determine the disturbing situation at Sparrow Air but after a quick look at the numbers, it became clear that some managers made a very good job at Sparrow Air with steady increases in financial profits, re-payment of loans as well as a considerable expansion through the lease of very affordable Boeing 757- and Airbus A321-aircraft.

The management made some important steps to ensure a healthy future. The hub at Jakarta was strengthened and key markets were re-evaluated and optimized.

The airline now schedules 161 Airbus A32S-aircraft, 88 Boeing 717s, 182 Boeing 757s, 42 Douglas DC-9s, 62 MD-80s, and 29 MD-90s.

Major expansion was possible through agreements to lease a large number of affordable Boeing 757-200s. These aircraft allows Sparrow Air to provide essential and additional capacities in currently served markets as well as in emerging regions.

Subsidiaries Wings Indonesia and TDA also increased their schedules through the addition of favorable leases including Fokker 100s and MD-80/-90 + Boeing 717-aircraft.

Sparrow Express also increased their network again and expanded their fleet with the lease of Boeing 727-200s.

It will take some time to optimize the entire flight-schedules offered by Sparrow Group but we are very confident to remain a vital part in Indonesian aviation.

Despite signs of declining demand, the Sparrow Group further enhanced the entire network with adjustments in the interest of even better connections within Indonesia and abroad.

Sparrow Air´s growth came to a de-facto stand-still with only one Airbus A319 added during the last period. This aircraft allowed Sparrow Air to increase their flights between Medan and Karachi to a two-daily frequency.

Industry-analysts claim that this investment is closely connected with a venture called “Transair Asia” started by Indonesian business-men in Pakistan. This tiny company operates a fleet of eleven aircraft including Four Fokker 70s and seven Dash 8-100s, connecting Karachi with 33 domestic destinations. An interlining-agreement allows full advantage of both networks provided by Transair Asia and Sparrow Air for customers.

Expansion within Indonesia and Southeast Asia was mainly fueled by major changes at Wings Indonesia and Trans Domestic Airlines, both subsidiaries of Sparrow Air.

Wings Indonesia added no less than 16 Fokker 70s and eleven Avro RJ85s to their active fleet.

The manager of flight ops Mr. Kuwat Kasih told to the press that these additional aircraft perfectly augment the current fleet of Fokker 100/70s an Fokker F28s as well as the BAe 146/Avro RJ-fleet with urgently needed aircraft capable to serve rather small and tiny airports.

Wings Indonesia now schedules the following fleet:

16 Avro RJ, 23 BAe 146, 83 MD-80s, 11 MD-90s, 5 Boeing 717, 19 Fokker F28, 57 Fokker 70/100

The additional Avro RJs allow Wings Indonesia to connect airports located in Irian Jaya to Ujung Pandang and beyond. “We couldn´t be more pleased to add additional Jumbolinos. Pilots are also pleased with these additional jetliners, underlined by very good CRM:

Captain to F/O: Go ahead, start the APU.

F/O to captain: Which one?

A technician said: “Reliability is an issue with these 4-engined aircraft but passengers can be sure that at least three engines are running during landing”.

The Fokker-fleet was increased by 16 Fokker 70s, each with a seating for 79 passengers.  Reliability is not an issue but some German tourists complain about the weak air-conditioning aboard these aircraft. There seems to be a company-advise to Cabin crew to ignore the complaints and odor generated by these passengers.

However there is an additional advise attached to the backrest of each seat:

“DO NOT REMOVE YOUR SHOES! THANK YOU!”

Btw the Fokker F28 is doing well at Wings Indonesia and here you can see this very quiet aircraft:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp8ZQWatw1E

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Trans Domestic  Airlines (TDA) increased their active MD-88-fleet to 20 frames.

However, these MD-88s are operated in a different seating for only 112 passengers including a Business Class for 40 guests!

TDA decided to install this alternate seating in a move to attract more highly-valued business-travelers within Indonesia.

TDA also added nine MD-90s to their fleet and also with a different seating compared to the other MD-90s operated by the airline: 125 seats including a Business Class for 20 guests!

Some journalists claim that the reason behind these rather low-density seating aboard their additional MD-88s and MD-90 is not based on providing better comfort but to allow TDA to serve a number of routes and airports with no payload-restrictions due to lower seating! Several routes have durations of more than 4 or 5 hours and this is not a pleasure!

The newest adventure of a group of Sparrow Group managers is believed to be a Caribbean one: Aerolineas Americanas, based in Trinidad & Tobago.

There are many skeptic voices behind this venture and the reasons to invest money in this region. One journalist claimed that the only reason was to save taxes in Indonesia. This accusation was later removed by the journalist after some employees of Sparrow Air visited this person…

Aerolineas Americanas is believed to be backed by Indonesian and T&T-investors with Spanish heritage, hence the Spanish name of this airline.

The airline leased a total of 25 aircraft at very favorable terms including eleven Boeing 717s, seven MD-80s as well as seven Dash 8s. The airline aims to provide a very comfortable flying experience due to very good in-flight-services and comfortable seating.

The CEO told to the press that (for example) “the MD-88 seats only 112 seats including 8 First, 36 Business and 68 Economy while our Boeing 717 seat only 87 passengers (8 First, 28 Business, 55 Economy).  These configurations allow us to provide the finest service in the Caribbean".

The CEO of Sparrow Air is not that enthusiastic but told to the press that “it´s not my business” and he is “concentrating his efforts to optimize Sparrow Air”.

Little is known about future expansion at Sparrow Air but some analysts told to the press that Sparrow Air appears to be cautious and conservative and is “doing generally fine”. The increase of load-factors will be mainly fueled by expanded operations of subsidiaries and additional connections and not through changes at Sparrow Air itself. The airline also began to purchase some Airbus A321s to enhance the balance-sheet.

“There is room to grow through optimized load-factors and it seems that Sparrow Air is working to increase passenger numbers through better utilization of the entire fleet, especially the increased Boeing 757-fleet”.

However, Sparrow Air confirmed interest for the Airbus A321neo LR. “This aircraft could be a potential replacement of Boeing 757s in the long term”, a source close to the airline told to the media.

Thank  you! ;)

A few days are left for 2014 and while the CEO prepares for a luxury-vacation in the Caribbean for two weeks, all employees were ordered to postpone their plans for vacations.

The cost of the vacation is believed to be in the range of 40.000 to 50.000 Euros and the bill was mailed to Sparrow Air. Some critical voices went quiet and all employees of the financial department of Sparrow Air signed a greeting card for the CEO with best wishes for 2015.

Sparrow Air consolidated their passenger-services for the last ten days with only minor changes in the schedule. The additional Boeing 757s enabled Sparrow Air to increase some frequencies to current destinations.

The current demand and situation in the markets served by Sparrow Air is fine. Load-factors dropped as anticipated due to the vast addition of capacities between mid-November and mid-December 2014 but also allows a gradual increase of passenger traffic without adding aircraft.

Sparrow Air is looking for additional Airbus A321s as well as A318/319 at favorable terms and aims to add new destinations to (yet un-served) markets in the future. Sparrow Air simply loves the A321 and it is expected that Sparrow Air will order the A321-200neo LR as an early customer. The plan would be to replace the much smaller A319 on long haul services with the A321.

The airline also enhanced their all-cargo services with the introduction of DC-9-freighters. The airline not only connects cities which are served by passengers-flights of Sparrow Air but also cities served by subsidiaries and IL-partners.

The cargo services are seen as a low-risk venture as long as the aircraft are filled. Additional DC-9s will be leased to develop the worldwide network even further.

Sparrow Air Cargo Services now serves Asia, Europe, North-/Latin- as well as South America + Africa. The DC-9s are hush-kitted are able to serve noise-constraint airports.

Now the CEO of Sparrow Air wants to wish you all a peaceful Merry Christmas and a healthy, prosperous 2015!

This cheesy video is from the 19MD80s (oder Karstadt-Kinderabteilung, 1986) :wub: :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8gmARGvPlI

This video was aired while the team of McDonnell Douglas designed the MD-80 :wub: :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv8RTNWUmmQ

Growth at Sparrow Air appears to be minimal but the airline agreed to lease six additional Boeing 757-200s as well as two Boeing 757-300s. The additional aircraft will be used to enhance connections between Australia and Indonesia as well as Singapore to Indonesian cities.

Sparrow Air now operates 225 Boeing 757s of different marques.

The main airline was able to increase profits during the last two weeks and repaid all remaining loans and agreed with several lessors to purchase leased aircraft, mainly Airbus A320s and Douglas DC-9s.

Sparrow Air anticipates that the current demand won´t last much longer and made these important adjustments to optimize the financial situation of Sparrow Air. 

Subsidiary Sparrow Asia Airways agreed to lease four 32-seat Yakovlev YAK-40 but there are no official plans for the proposed routes available at the moment. It appears that at least one YAK-40 is currently scheduled for ad-hoc charters as seen in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UMI_yv_rxo

Thank you!

Wow that is a noisy aircraft but I would fly it whit Sparrow Asia Airways rather that having a 10 day hike in the indonesian jungle :D

Wow that is a noisy aircraft but I would fly it whit Sparrow Asia Airways rather that having a 10 day hike in the indonesian jungle 

All aircraft are currently stored for unknown reasons ;) but Ugandan subsidiary "african airways" operates nine YAK-40s and the management has one task: to generate enough money to break-even on flights operated by these cute jetliners.

"The YAK-40 is a loss-making aircraft but there are signs that these aircraft can be operated profitably as long as some adjustments are made in a correct way". 

​The YAK-40 is the principle aircraft on some routes not served by any other airliner or airline. However, this type lacks high cruising-speed and range. The major advantage are the three engines and this enables the crew to climb with only two engines in case of a failure of one engine. The aircraft is robust and is able to operate in highly-demanding environment with all advantages of a jet airliner.

The CEO of Sparrow Air is believed to have made his decision for the YAK-40 after watching this promo-video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JCiah4CQew

In other news, one employee of Sparrow Air made one major mistake and signed a contract for the lease of a Fokker 100 instead of an anticipated purchase. This will result in 15% higher costs for maintenance for all approx. 670 aircraft and the CEO describes this as "very unrealistic".

"The only way to correct this situation will be the termination of the lease as soon as possible", one source close to the management told to the press.

Sparrow Air originally earmarked the purchase of this Fokker 100 for onward-lease to african airways.

The employee of Sparrow Air which signed this agreement on a wrong way, was immediately flown to Papua New Guines and he won´t be seen after arrival in the jungle. :ph34r:  ;) .

This employee was given this track - regardless of the fact that this 1980s-song is called "Africa":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dU5Nj5LVJGQ

Ich bitte um etwas mehr Self Control please!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8-pP4VboBk

Oh dear, I was close to order ten additional MD-80s while listening to this track  :wub:  and noticed that we are in 2015 and no longer in the 1980s.

Sparrow Air -The Indonesian Way To Fly - survived the last months despite the absence of the CEO. The management used the time to shift money to private accounts and the CEO was not pleased to see the mess. He said that "he is the only one who can take as much money as wanted from the airline". The main task will be to repay all the obligations, including fees not paid to the civil aviation authorities and to people who want to get money as a nice gesture.

Despite all the mess, some employees really worked hard to improve the flying experience at Sparrow Air for the people of Indonesia and abroad.

The airline increased their flight schedule and currently serves 347 destinations with 723 aircraft.

The last weeks were used to add modern and efficient aircraft including 38 additional Douglas DC-9-50s and dozens of Boeing 757s. Sparrow Air also increased their MD-90-fleet to 61 aircraft and now operates a subfleet of 117 Boeing 717s.

"Getting additional MD-90s and 717s becomes difficult and Boeing declined to re-start production despite our offer to order 500 MD-90s and 500 717s instantly!".

Sparrow Air aims to optimize their flight-program further and recently added nine additional Boeing 757-300s to increase their network from and to Denpasar/Bali. "The biggest advantage is that the length of the 757-300s allows Sparrow Air to connect Bali with Jakarta without departure and arrival. Just enter the forward door and leave through the aft exit and you are there!"

The airline also signed agreements for five additional MD-80s, bringing the MD-80-fleet to 62 aircraft.

"We would be pleased to add many more aircraft but slot-contraints at major Indonesian hubs really hinder much more expansion. It´s also a very big problem that Jayapura (DJJ) is not available for transit-passengers. Changing planes at DJJ would greatly enhance the region with hundreds of small airfields in rural areas in Irian Jaya and Papua New Guinea and the possibility for German tourists to visit the tribes (maybe one-way ;) )."

Sparrow-subsidiaries Sparrow Express, Sparrow Regional as well as Trans Domestic Airlines also increased their presence considerably. Sparrow Express added a large fleet of additional Saab 340s and Saab 2000s to their fleet while Sparrow Regional re-activitated many Dash 7s and added additional ATR-cargo planes.

TDA enhanced their flight ops with two additional Airbus A300s and re-activitated some stored MD-87s. TDA also leased additional MD-88s to serve Indonesia even better!

Now the CEO of Sparrow Air has to leave again for a Summer Night-party - it´s so hot and humid here in Jakarta!  :P

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWj2vy7VS8Q

McDonnell Douglas and Sparrow Air are pleased to announce an agreement for an unspecified number of ultra-modern MD-11-aeroplanes.

“We couldn´t be more pleased to place MD-11 with Sparrow Air. The airline is probably one of the most loyal operators of our lineage of trusty and highly-reliable aircraft. Our aircraft are even able to withstand - the sometimes questionable - way of using the planes in Indonesia for the sake of providing sterling service within Indonesia” – a spokeswoman of MDC told to the press.

The CEO of Sparrow Air added: “We couldn´t be even more pleased to add the MD-11 that no other airlines wanted. Sparrow Air believes that the MD-11 enable Sparrow Air to develop long haul routes to Europe and the USA. Currently, Sparrow Air operates the Boeing 757-200ER on their longest legs and these routes are demanding even for the most powerful version of the 757. The MD-11 will be able to connect Indonesia with important gateways in Europe and the USA.”

The MD-11 will be operated in three versions:

MD-11:

250 seats including a First Class for 4 guests and 21 Business Class

MD-11ER:

232 seats including a First Class for 4 guest and 21 Business Class

MD-11 Combi:

117 seats including a First Class for 4 guest and 14 Business Class

###

Sparrow Air is the biggest Indonesian airline and provides the best service of all airlines worldwide with the youngest fleet, best pilots, finest in-flight service and best connections to all parts of the world. Our aircraft produce less pollution than some German car manufacturers and are quieter than a German cashier-dragon of a grocery demanding money for the bread that I want.

### End of this stupid press-release, all rights not reserved

Who will bring these planes? MD-80.com will!

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After the official part was over, the CEO went to the next party:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAEil3_D03k

Sparrow Air released a promo-video for their newest aircraft:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDXtOSgoo6w