SEMPATI AIR TRANSPORT

Sempati Air was founded in December 1968 by PT.Tri Utama Bhakti (PT.Truba) under the name PT Sempati Air Transport and began flights in March of the following year using Douglas DC-3 aircraft. In the beginning, the airline did not offer regularly scheduled services; instead it offered transportation for oil company workers, but soon thereafter more DC-3s were purchased and the airline received a number of Fokker F27s, and regularly scheduled flights to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Manila were begun. The name Sempati was taken from Sampati, a mythical bird in Hindu mythology. In its early days, Sempati were referred by some people as "Sembilan Panglima Tinggi" (nine senior commanders) the Indonesian Army Strategic Reserve Command was also involved in its operations.

In the late 1980s, Tommy Suharto purchased Sempati and distributed it among three investors: Tri Utama Bhakti, Humpuss and Nusantara Ampera Bhakti (Nusamba).

After the buyout, the airline expanded rapidly in the early 1990s. Hasan Soedjono, the CEO of Sempati, planned a five-year leap to achieve the target of becoming one of Southeast Asia's largest airlines after Singapore Airlines, Garuda Indonesia, Malaysia Airlines and Thai Airways International.

In 1994, the airline changed its name to Sempati Air. The airline was the launch customer of the Fokker 70. In 1996, just as the airline was planning a share flotation, its debt became known and it was listed in the Red Category, a sign of too much debt. Following continued financial problems, some aircraft were sold or returned to lessors, but it was too late to save the airline and operations ceased in 1998.

Until 1998, Sempati Air flew to a wide variety of destinations, including Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Solo, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Mataram, Singapore, Kupang, Dili, Medan, Padang, Pekanbaru, Batam, Tanjung Pinang, Palangkaraya, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan, Tarakan, Manado, Palu, Kendari, Makassar, Ambon, Jayapura, Timika, and Perth