Dear Sirs,

We are writing on behalf of a global coalition of shark and marine conservation groups, with regard to Lion Air's commitment to sustainability.

Lion Air is one of South East Asia's leading airlines. We applaud your airline's commitment to sustainable development.

However, there is an aspect of your operations that contradicts the airline's commitment to saving the environment, which is the carriage of shark fin and related products on Lion Air flights from Bali and Jakarta. This is serious, given your commitment to protecting the environment. Simply put, the tonnes of shark fins transported as cargo on Lion Air flights which end up in Hong Kong is directly leading to the endangerment of shark species and the marine environment in Indonesia and beyond.

Hong Kong Government data indicates that over 1,162 tonnes of shark fin were imported into Hong Kong in 2012, of which 14.1% was by air cargo. Of that percentage a substantial amount would have been flown on Lion Air's planes. According to a July 2013 report by the global wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic, Indonesia is the biggest shark catching nation in the world.

As you may already know, Cathay Pacific Airways took a great step in the right direction in September 2012 by making a public commitment to stop carrying shark fins and related products on its subsidiary airline, Cathay Pacific Cargo. (It has long been banned from the passenger services of Cathay Pacific Airways, Dragonair and Air Hong Kong).

Until today, fifteen more airlines have followed in Cathay Pacific's brave steps; Garuda Indonesia, Fiji Airways, Qatar Airways, KLM, Swiss, FinnAir, Lufthansa, Lan Chile / LATAM Airlines Group, EvaAir, Aeroméxico, Emirates, Korean Airlines, Asiana Airlines, Qantas and Air New Zealand.

And it is not just airlines that are moving in the right direction. Shipping lines are too. Evergreen Lines, Maersk, Hanjin and CMA CGM have all announced a total ban on the carriage of all shark fin and shark-related products on their container ships.

We are seeking Lion Air's help in cutting the supply chain of shark fin to Hong Kong.

At last year's meeting of the UN body Conference of the Parties to CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which concluded in Thailand on 14 March 2013, several shark species were granted protection, as they have been pushed ever closer to extinction by the shark trade.

Not all sharks are endangered. However, due to poor regulation of the fishing industry, illegally finned and fins of endangered sharks often end up in shipments. INTERPOL’s Environmental Crime Program has advised that companies transporting these fins may be implicated in a crime. Until the legality and sustainability of sources of shark fin can be adequately accounted for, we recommend all companies involved in logistics to suspend transport of shark fin as a precautionary measure and responsible business practice.

We therefore request that Lion Air publicly commit to ending the transportation of shark fin on all your flights. We further request that Lion Air set an aggressive timeline to stop the transportation of all shark fin and related products, and publish this in the 'Newsroom' section of its website.

We, or a representative member of our coalition, would be happy to meet with you in Jakarta or Bali at any time to discuss this issue, and how we can all work together to leverage this for the airline’s best interests, and we welcome your views.

On behalf of everyone in our organisations and all our supporters, please stop carrying shark fin and related products from all Lion Air's flights.



Sincerely yours,



Alex Hofford