Wings Air

Indonesia consists of thousands of islands, and many of them have only a small airport with a short runway. That is exactly where Wings Air’s territory begins. The regional subsidiary of the Lion Air Group flies only ATR 72s and brings passengers from remote islands to the big cities of the archipelago. It is exciting for spotters because it operates one of the largest ATR fleets in the world and lands at places hardly any other airline serves. On this page you learn how to recognize Wings Air with confidence, how to tell the two ATR versions apart and where to catch the airline best.

Wings Air at a glance

Wings Air is an Indonesian regional airline based in Jakarta. Officially the company is called PT Wings Abadi Airlines. It was founded in 2003 by Lion Air, and flight operations began in July 2003. To this day Wings Air is a subsidiary of Lion Air and thus part of the Lion Air Group.

The roles within the group are clearly divided. Lion Air flies the big domestic routes at low fares, mainly with Boeing 737s, and Batik Air serves the full-service segment with Airbus and Boeing aircraft. Wings Air takes over the routes where a jet is too big or the runway too short. It is the group’s feeder and connects small regional airports with cities such as Denpasar, Makassar or Medan.

Super Air Jet does not belong to the group, by the way: the low-cost airline with Airbus A320s is considered closely tied to the Lion founder but rejects any formal links to the group.

Wings Air does not belong to any alliance. For domestic traffic in Indonesia that isn’t necessary anyway: passengers mostly transfer within the Lion Group.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code IW: appears in the flight number, on the departure board and on the ticket.
• ICAO code WON: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on many flight trackers.
• Callsign WINGS ABADI: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio. The name comes from the legal name PT Wings Abadi Airlines.

At Wings Air the flight number usually matches the operating airline. Still, it is worth looking at the ICAO code, because the Lion Group shifts routes between its brands. If a different code suddenly shows up on a route you know from Wings Air, a jet from a sister airline may be flying it. How to read tracker data sensibly is explained in the guide to flight tracking for spotters.

The Lion Air Group at a glance

Wings Air only makes sense once you know the group behind it. The Lion Air Group was built up by the brothers Rusdi and Kusnan Kirana and is headquartered in the Lion Air Tower in Jakarta. It operates several airlines in Indonesia and neighboring countries.

Airline	Country	Role in the group	Typical aircraft
Lion Air	Indonesia	Low-cost airline for domestic and regional routes	mainly Boeing 737
Wings Air	Indonesia	Regional airline and feeder	ATR 72
Batik Air	Indonesia	Full-service airline	Airbus A320 family, Boeing 737
Batik Air Malaysia	Malaysia	Offshoot in Malaysia	Boeing 737, Airbus A330
Thai Lion Air	Thailand	Offshoot in Thailand	mainly Boeing 737

You can find more on the sister airlines on the pages for Batik Air Malaysia and Thai Lion Air. In the Indonesian market the group competes mainly with Garuda Indonesia and its low-cost subsidiary Citilink.

The fleet: only ATR 72s

Wings Air is a single-type operation – at least as far as the base type goes. It flies exclusively the ATR 72, a twin-engine turboprop of French-Italian production. Two versions are in service:

Type	Active (guideline 2026)	Seats	ICAO type code	Spotter note
ATR 72-500	about 20	72	AT75	Older generation, joined Wings Air from 2010
ATR 72-600	just under 60	72	AT76	Largest part of the fleet

Together, fleet databases list just under 80 active aircraft in 2026. In addition there are stored aircraft that can return to service as needed. The exact number therefore varies from source to source; take the values as a guideline, not as an exact status.

Today’s fleet goes back to several large orders. At the end of 2009 the Lion Group signed a first big contract with ATR for ATR 72-500s and options on the newer ATR 72-600. The first three aircraft arrived in early 2010 and were presented in Manado. In the following years the group increased the orders several times. In 2014 it ordered another 40 ATR 72-600s, becoming the manufacturer’s largest customer. A large share of these aircraft fly at Wings Air.

Historic fleet

Wings Air has not always managed without jets. In the early years, according to fleet overviews, Dash 8-300 turboprops and jets of the MD-80 family were also in service. With the ATR deliveries from 2010, the airline gradually replaced these types. Photos of Wings Air Dash 8s are therefore historic documents today – and correspondingly interesting for collectors.

ATR 72-500 or 72-600? How to tell them apart

This is where it gets tricky for spotters. From the outside the two versions look almost the same: same fuselage, high-wing layout, T-tail, six-blade propellers. The most important novelties of the -600 are in the cockpit with large screens and in the cabin – you can see neither from the fence.

The most reliable tool is therefore the registration. Note it with every sighting and later check it against a fleet list. How to read registrations in general is explained in the article Understanding aircraft registrations; how to look for a specific aircraft is shown in the guide Tracking an aircraft by registration. Anyone who wants to get more confident with turboprops in general will find the most important features in the guide Telling ATRs and Dash 8s apart.

How to recognize Wings Air

Identification is easier than it sounds for such a large fleet. The type is already a strong clue: in the Lion Group practically only Wings Air flies the ATR 72. So if you see an ATR with a Lion Group connection at an Indonesian airport, it is very likely Wings Air.

It becomes unambiguous with the “Wings Air” titles on the fuselage and the registration. Indonesian aircraft carry the prefix PK-. At Wings Air many registrations begin with PK-W, such as PK-WGW or PK-WFP from accident reports. Don’t rely on this series alone, though – what matters is checking against the titles and the tracker.

Ground handling also helps with recognition. ATRs mostly stand at remote positions, and passengers board by stairs. On the ATR 72 the baggage goes into the forward cargo compartment, which is why you see the passenger door at the rear left. For photos that means: the most interesting scenes with ground crew, baggage carts and stairs take place on the apron.

Safety and incidents

Like many Indonesian airlines, Wings Air was on the EU’s list of flight restrictions for a long time. In June 2018 the EU removed the last Indonesian airlines still listed from this list. For the airline’s day-to-day business this meant little, because the ATRs don’t fly to Europe anyway.

Several incidents without fatalities are documented. In December 2016 an ATR 72-600 ran off the runway while landing in Semarang in bad weather and tipped onto its side; all occupants survived. In January 2017 an ATR 72-500 rolled past the end of a taxiway in Ketapang, likewise without fatalities. Such incidents mainly show the conditions the airline flies in: short runways, tropical rain showers and quickly changing weather.

Spotting Wings Air

You see Wings Air practically only in Indonesia. For spotters who are traveling there anyway, that is good news: the airline is present at many airports and offers many movements with one and the same type.

Bali (Denpasar, DPS) is the easiest way in for most travelers. Besides international jets and Lion Air’s Boeing 737s, Wings Air ATRs also depart here for the neighboring islands. Makassar (UPG) and Manado (MDC) on Sulawesi as well as Medan (KNO) on Sumatra are further bases with many ATR movements. Kupang (KOE) on West Timor is the gateway to the islands in the east.

For the photos themselves, turboprops have one peculiarity: with too short an exposure time the propellers freeze, and the ATR looks like a model with standing propellers. How to choose the shutter speed so the propellers look nicely blurred is explained in the guide Photographing propellers.

Common mix-ups

• Assuming every ATR in Indonesia is Wings Air – smaller regional airlines fly the ATR 72 too. Titles and registration decide.
• Identifying the ATR 72-500 and 72-600 by looks – they are hard to tell apart from the outside. Use the type code and a fleet list.
• Thinking Wings Air is a parent company of its own – it is a subsidiary of Lion Air.
• Confusing IW with another Lion brand – Lion Air flies under JT, Batik Air under ID; IW belongs only to Wings Air.
• Logging Dash 8 photos as the current fleet – the Dash 8-300 belongs to the airline’s history.
• Taking Wings Air for a jet operator – today’s fleet consists only of turboprops.

Conclusion

Wings Air is the quiet workhorse of the Lion Air Group. While Lion Air and Batik Air connect the big cities with jets, Wings Air flies its ATR 72s to where the runways are short and the islands small. For spotters it offers one of the largest ATR fleets in the world and many opportunities to photograph turboprops against a tropical backdrop. Anyone who also notes the registration and type code turns every sighting into a clean entry – and over time sees which of the many ATRs are already in their own hangar.