JOHOR BARU: Indonesia-based airline TransNusa sees good growth prospects for Malaysia, underpinned by the strong demand from air passengers for the Jakarta-Johor Baru route.

TransNusa Airline Group Aviation chief executive officer Datuk Bernard Francis said the airline has chosen Johor Baru as its second new international route.

The airline is based at the Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, which started its first international route on April 14, servicing the Jakarta-Kuala Lumpur route.

“There are over one million Indonesian workers in Johor and we want to tap into this market,’’ he said via Zoom last week.

Bernard said the demand for air travel would not only record positive growth in Johor, but also in the southern region catering to air passengers from neighbouring states.

He said the airline’s latest international destination also offered an alternative for Indonesians flying to Singapore to choose Johor Baru before going to the city-state.

“We are also targeting young adults looking for short-holidays and families with young children going to theme parks in Johor Baru and Singapore,’’ said Bernard.

The airline would be focusing on providing passengers additional options in the afternoon as the AJR-21 aircraft departs from Jakarta at 12:30pm and arrives at Senai Airport at 3pm.

The same airline will depart Johor Baru the same day at 3:30pm and arrive in Jakarta at 4:20pm.

“Our maiden flight from Jakarta to Johor Baru will take place on Sept 7, five times weekly and by November this year we plan to have daily flights for this route,’’ he said.

He also did not dismiss the possibility of the airline introducing the Surabaya-Johor Baru route, while acknowledging that there is another airline currently servicing this route.

Located in the East Java province, Surabaya is the second largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta and many of the Indonesian workers in Johor came from the province.

Similarly, according to Bernard, the airline had met the Transport Ministry on its plans to fly to Subang, adding that Subang flights would be point-to-point while flights departing the Kuala Lumpur International Airport would focus on connectivity.“We also plan to introduce our third international destination within Malaysia and will reveal the details once we get the approval from the relevant authorities,’’ he said.