With huge aircraft orders in hand, upstart Lion Air of Indonesia serves notice to AirAsia that its dominance of the regional budget market is no longer assured.
Rusdi Kirana, the co-founder and CEO of the Indonesian carrier, not the sort of airline executive who is seen regularly at major aviation events. But he was present in person to confirm the single largest order in the history of Airbus Industrie in France.
He was not the only executive in a buying mood, but others in the airline industry agree that the market in Asia is likely to see growth at levels not seen in decades. Aviation has been on the rise in the region for the past decade despite setbacks such as the Sars outbreak, bird flu, and years of economic weakness in the traditional markets for many Asian airlines, Europe and United States. Mr Rusdi late in February had his picture taken with French President Francois Hollande by his side and plastered across global newspapers and on the web. Hollande witnessed the deal under which Lion Air Group agreed to acquire 234 new Airbus A320-family aircraft worth US$24 billion.![lion-air-asia-130323b](https://goodnewsfromindonesia.id/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/lion-air-asia-130323b.jpg)
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