Sempati Air

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.

History

Sempati Air Airbus A300 at Perth Airport in the early 1990s

Sempati Air, IATA Code: SG ICAO Code: SSR Callsign: 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 it did not offer scheduled services, instead it offered transportation for oil company workers, but soon thereafter more DC-3s were purchased and the Fokker F27 "Friendship' was introduced and scheduled flights to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Manila were begun. The name Sempati was taken from Sampati, a mythical bird in Hindu mythology. But in its early operation, Sempati were referred by some people as "Sembilan Panglima Tinggi" because on its founding, The Indonesian Army's Kostrad also involved.

In 1975, a Boeing 707 was leased from Pelita Air for flights between Denpasar and Tokyo but the route was turned over to Garuda by the Indonesian government. From some information, Sempati also leased one more 707, possibly from Thailand. After 1977, the DC-3s were phased out in favor of more F27s. Sempati Air could not acquire other type of aircraft because the government placed restrictions on private airlines against buying new equipment and it was not until the mid-to-late 1980s that the Fokker 100 and the Boeing 737-200 were introduced.

On the end of 1980s, Sempati Air stake was bought by Hutama Mandala Putra(Tommy Soeharto) and make Sempati held by three investors: Tri Utama Bhakti,Humpuss,and Nusantara Ampera Bhakti(Nusamba).

After Humpuss Group entry the Sempati Air, Sempati had a great expansion on early 1990s. The CEO of Sempati, Hasan Soedjono has planned a five-year leap to reach the Sempati main target to become the one of Southeast Asia's largest airlines after Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways International. Further planned expansion are to open the Jakarta-Abu Dhabi Route,as the beginning of Sempati expansion to Europe.

When the Regional expansion are going to started, Sempati have some difficulties. Sempati couldn't buy Boeing 767 from Boeing because the financial difficulties. Beside that, Garuda Indonesia also cancelled its plan to sold its DC-10s. Then Sempati bought 4 units of Airbus A300B4 ex Pan Am and introduced a regional flights to other points in Asia and Australia.

Then in 1994 the name was changed to Sempati Air. Before the 1997 Asian Monetary Crisis,Sempati has become the Launch Customer of Fokker F70 and offered the highest In-flight service available on Indonesia. But in 1996,when Sempati are going to start IPO,the debt of Sempati were revealed and listed on Red Category because its debt are too high. Because of that problem,Hasan Soedjono was replaced by new CEO. By 1998 Indonesia was suffering a financial crisis which affected Sempati Air and all the international flights were discontinued. Many aircraft were sold or returned to the lessors but those measures were not enough and by June 1998 Sempati Air was out of business.^[1]

Until mid-1998, Sempati Air has flown to 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). Before the Crisis,Sempati also has flown to Taipei from Denpasar.

Historical Fleet

**Sempati Air Historical Fleet**
Type	Number
Airbus A300B4-203	4
Boeing 707-320	2
Boeing 737-281	6
Boeing 767-300	2(Cancelled)
Douglas DC-3
Fokker F100	7
Fokker F70	2
Fokker F27 "Friendship"	4

Incidents and Accidents

In 1990, Sempati Fokker F27,registered as PK-JFF crashed on Surabaya when used on Training Flight. This flight didn't carry any passengers.
In 1994, Trigana Air Fokker F27, operated by Sempati Air crashed on Bandung, Near Sulaiman Airfield. The plane lost stability after takeoff from Hussein Sastranegara Airport.
On 16 January 1995,Sempati Air Boeing 737-200,registered as PK-JHF with Nosename "Pink Rose" experienced a skid on Adisucipto International Airport. There were no fatalities in this Accident, although the plane was written off and scrapped.

References

↑ Airlines Remembered by BI Hengi, Publisher Midland Publishing

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sempati Air.

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