Lion Air

Overview

Lion Air is an Indonesian low-cost carrier. According to Wikipedia, it was founded by Rusdi and Kusnan Kirana, began scheduled services on 30 June 2000 and is the largest privately run airline in Indonesia. It is based in Jakarta and belongs to Lion Air Group, which also includes Wings Air and Batik Air. It is not a member of any of the three major alliances.

Network and hubs

The main hubs are Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta, Makassar and Surabaya, with Denpasar and Medan as secondary hubs and Batam as a focus city. The airline flies a large domestic network and international routes to Singapore, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, plus charters to mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Macau. Wikipedia lists 47 destinations; Plane Finder showed 39 in June 2026, so the figures differ by source.

Fleet

Wikipedia gives a fleet of 99 aircraft (retrieved September 2026), while Plane Finder listed 86 in June 2026. That count comprised 50 Boeing 737-900s, 22 737-800s, 7 Airbus A330-900s, 4 A330-300s and 3 737 MAX 9s. Treat the totals as approximate.

On board

Lion Air is mostly an all-economy operation. Seatmaps.com gives a 737-900ER economy pitch of 28 to 29 inches. The A330-900 is laid out with very dense economy seating. Older Business Traveller reports describe a small business cabin on some 737-900ERs and no inflight entertainment. Food and drinks are sold on board rather than included. No Wi-Fi information was found.

Good to know

• Baggage: Lion Air announced 10 kg of free checked baggage on all domestic and international flights from 17 July 2025. The conditions of carriage allow one 7 kg cabin bag of 40 x 30 x 20 cm plus a personal item. Extra baggage is bought as prepaid vouchers.
• Safety: the EU lifted its ban on the airline in June 2016, and an ICAO audit in June 2018 gave a positive rating. Flight 610, a 737 MAX 8, crashed in October 2018.
• Lounges, change fees and on-time figures: no current published information was found.

Check the official website for current rules and fares.