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Kota Kinabalu: Batik Air will start a direct flight between Jakarta and the State Capital from Wednesday.This was disclosed by outgoing Indonesian Consul General Bapak Akhmad Daya Handasah Irfan during a courtesy call on Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Raymond Tan at his office, on Friday. Bapak Akhmad said this is good news to both region in terms of tourism and trade activities.

It is believed to be the first Indonesian airline to provide a direct air link to Sabah. Batik Air is a subsidiary of Lion Air that is controlled by the Kirana brothers.

During the farewell call, Tan expressed his appreciation to Bapak Akhmad for the cooperation especially in trade and industrial activities he has rendered to the State Government during his tenure as Consul General in the state. Batik Air is a sub-company created by Lion Air as a full service airline which began operations in May 2013.

It was previously reported that Batik Air was going to be the new name .

The airline uses Jakarta airports as a hub to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations in Indonesia which usually focusses on domestic flights to Manado, Pekanbaru, and Palembang.

Previous air links between Sabah and Indonesia were provided by MASwings.