Super Air Jet

Is Super Air Jet safe?

On the evidence so far, yes. Super Air Jet has had no fatal accident and has written offHull lossAn accident in which an aircraft is destroyed or damaged beyond economic repair. People may or may not be hurt.More in the glossary no aircraft since its first flight on 6 August 2021, according to the Aviation Safety Network database and the list of investigations kept by KNKT, Indonesia's accident investigator. The catch is how little that evidence covers. Five years is a short record, the airline is not on IATA's IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary registry of audited airlines, and it flies older second-hand A320s. We score it 73, below the Lion Group's Batik Air (75) and well above Lion Air (62). Our confidence in the number is low.

Who runs Super Air Jet?

Super Air Jet (code IU) holds its own air operator's certificate from Indonesia's Directorate General of Civil Aviation. It received it in mid-2021 and launched with daily flights from Jakarta to Medan and Batam, in the middle of COVID-19 restrictions.

Its link to the Lion Group is reported rather than declared. CNBC Indonesia wrote in July 2021 that the airline was set up by Lion Group founder Rusdi Kirana, and cited a Debtwire report of money moving from Lion Mentari Airlines to Super Air Jet. Its chief executive, Ari Azhari, was earlier a general manager at the Lion Group. When ch-aviation asked about the relationship in May 2021, the group did not answer. Since then trade and travel press often call Super Air Jet a Lion Group brand. What matters for safety is that it flies under its own certificate, so we score it on its own record. Lion Air flights (JT), Wings Air (IW) and Batik Air (ID) are separate airlines.

The airline sells itself to young Indonesians on price. Every aircraft is an Airbus A320 with 180 seats, on domestic routes from Jakarta, Medan, Batam and other cities, and on charters.

What has gone wrong at Super Air Jet?

Two events stand out, and only one of them is in KNKT's investigation list.

Overrun at Weda Bay, May 2024. On 25 May 2024, A320 PK-STD flew an unscheduled charter from Manado to Lelilef Sawai airport, which serves the nickel industrial park at Weda Bay in North Maluku. On board were 2 pilots, 5 cabin crew and 172 passengers. The crew made a low approach to one end of the runway, then landed in rain in the other direction, on runway 27, and ran off the paved surface onto soft ground, about 30 metres past the end according to AeroInside. Nobody was hurt. KNKT classes the event as a serious incident. Its first interim statement, published in April 2026, records minor damage to the landing gear and left engine nacelle. It also says the airline then issued a safety notice telling pilots to follow its route and airport briefing, "especially regarding the maximum tailwind limitation for landing", and to calculate landing distances accurately. The airport has since lengthened its runway from 1,984 to 2,250 metres. KNKT is still analysing the flight recorders, human factors and organisational issues, and has not published conclusions.

Hot cabin and emergency descent, March 2023. On 21 March 2023, flight IU737 from Denpasar to Jakarta had just reached 30,000 feet when the crew saw that the cabin pressure control was not working properly. They descended to 10,000 feet and flew on to Jakarta, about 90 minutes at low altitude with the cabin getting hotter. Passengers posted videos of people fanning themselves with safety cards. The transport ministry's director general of air transport, M. Kristi Endah Murni, sent auditors to check the aircraft and told the airline to run its own investigation, which The Jakarta Post reported as a reprimand.

Neither event hurt anyone. But the Weda Bay overrun touches the same weak spot as many of Lion Air's past accidents: landing on a short, wet runway with little margin. A clean five-year record is a good start, not proof.

Why the score is not higher

No IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary. Lion Air, Batik Air and Garuda Indonesia all appear on IATA's member list, which means each passes the IOSA operational safety audit every two years. Super Air Jet is not a member and was not on IATA's IOSA registry when we searched it on 28 October 2026, so no outside audit we can see checks its operations. That is the main reason oversight scores 66, six below those three (72 each) and above Sriwijaya Air, another Indonesian airline without IOSA but with a 2019 supervision order.

The regulator. No Indonesian airline has been on the EU Air Safety ListEU Air Safety ListThe European Commission's list of airlines banned or restricted from flying in EU airspace because they do not meet international safety standards.More in the glossary since June 2018, and the June 2026 list names none. Indonesia is not on the FAA's IASAFAA IASAThe US FAA's check of whether a country's aviation regulator meets ICAO standards. Category 1 means it does; Category 2 means it does not.More in the glossary list, which covers only countries whose airlines fly to the US, so this is "not listed", not a downgrade.

Older jets. The A320ceo is a fly-by-wireFly-by-wireA flight control system in which the pilot's inputs go to computers, which then move the control surfaces. Many such systems also stop unsafe manoeuvres.More in the glossary type with a strong record, but Super Air Jet bought every one used. Fleet trackers show about 55 in service with an average age around 15 years; the airline does not publish a figure. Its first aircraft, PK-SAJ, was already 10.5 years old when it was ferried to Batam in April 2021.

A short and thin record. Indonesia's investigators publish fewer reports than those in Europe or Australia, and the airline has had only five years to build a history. We do not treat a quiet incident record as a clean one, which is why serious incidents score 64. The accident record scores 88, the same as other young airlines with about five clean years, not the 95 or more that needs 20 years.

How to fly Super Air Jet more safely

• Check who operates your flight. Super Air Jet (IU) is a separate airline from Lion Air (JT) and Batik Air (ID), even if you booked through a travel site that groups them.
• On charters to industrial or remote airstrips, expect short runways. The Weda Bay overrun happened on a charter, in rain, and the airline then reminded its pilots of the tailwind limit for landing. If you fly for work to nickel or mining sites, ask your employer which airline and airport the charter uses.
• Plan for delays in the wet season, roughly November to March. A crew that diverts or holds for weather is doing its job.

How we scored it

The accident record (88) carries the score: no deaths and no lost aircraft, held below 95 because five years is too short to prove much. The fleet (62) is one of the weakest factors, because the A320s are second-hand and about 15 years old, and oversight (66) is held back by the missing IOSAIOSAThe IATA Operational Safety Audit, an international audit of an airline's safety management and operations. Every IATA member must pass it.More in the glossary audit. Overall it scores 73. Citilink (77) has a longer record and an IOSA audit; Garuda Indonesia (74) has IOSA but a fatal accident in 2007.