October 7, 2023
John Roberts, a jet card member with Air Partner, called the company to book a different type of flight recently. He needed to arrange the safe evacuation of his daughter and her boyfriend from Indonesia to Singapore in the aftermath of the Lombok earthquake. Roberts’ daughter and boyfriend were visiting the island of Gili Trawangan, located off the northwest coast of Lombok, when the 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck on 29 July, followed by 66 aftershocks.
According to the company, the hotel in which they were staying collapsed forcing them to jump to safety from their first-floor balcony. The pair then had to camp on the beach until they were able to get back to Lombok. Air Partner worked around the clock to arrange transport from Lombok to Singapore. Using its experience and extensive network, the Air Partner team was able to locate a suitable Lear Jet 60 for the journey, as well as secure the necessary private flight permits in just 24 hours, instead of the usual two to three days.
However, authorities took closed Lombok to nonscheduled traffic, meaning that the flight had to take off from Bali instead. Air Partner used its local contacts on the ground to arrange a helicopter between the two islands. From Bali, the couple was flown directly to Singapore.
Since it wasn’t certain the couple would be able to get their passports from the destroyed hotel Air Partner’s local representation had already spoken with the British High Commission so that there was an option to collect emergency travel documents and hand deliver them to Lombok, should the need arise.
Commenting on the evacuation, Steven Warner, head of JetCard at Air Partner, said, “Being caught up in a natural disaster such as this is a terrifying ordeal, and so getting our client’s daughter and her boyfriend off the ground as quickly as possible was our number one priority. The team worked 24/7 to find the best possible solution and I was delighted that we were able to get the two passengers to safety in such a short timeframe, despite the obstacles in our way. No avenue was left unpursued and my thanks goes to my colleagues for their dedication and hard work in making this possible. However, our thoughts remain with the friends and families of those who were not so fortunate.”
The grateful father added, “I am extremely grateful to the Air Partner team for acting so quickly to get my daughter and her boyfriend out of Indonesia. I never imagined I would have to use my JetCard under such circumstances and I couldn’t be more relieved that this journey was made possible.”
While Southeast Asia isn’t in the Air Partner primary service area that offers guaranteed availability at fixed rates, members can use their jet card account for on-demand charter. Air Partner jet cards start at 10 hours and $47,000 including 7.5% Federal Excise Tax.
