Meeting With Etihad Air Boss In UAE, SOE Minister Discusses Tourism Ecosystem Until Garuda Indonesia's Success In Debt Restructuring

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir during his visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) took the time to meet with the Chairman of Etihad HE Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa.

Etihad Airways is the national airline of the United Arab Emirates. Since its founding in 2003, the airline has become one of the fastest-growing.

During the meeting, Erick discussed the potential for cooperation with Etihad. He hopes that this collaboration can create a better tourism ecosystem.

"In a meeting with HE Mohamed Ali Al Shorafa, Chairman of Etihad, we are optimistic that we can establish strategic cooperation. We hope that this cooperation will also create a better tourism ecosystem," he said, quoted from the official Instagram @erickthohir, Friday, July 1.

Erick also admitted that he received appreciation from various parties, including Etihad Airways, regarding the success of Garuda Indonesia in restructuring its debts through the postponement of debt payment obligations (PKPU).

"No good intentions are wasted. Our efforts to restructure Garuda Indonesia have received tremendous appreciation from various parties, including Etihad, an airline from the United Arab Emirates," he wrote.

Garuda Targets Investors

For your information, after Garuda Indonesia was confirmed to be free from the snares of bankruptcy. The government and Garuda Indonesia immediately approached investors. This step is an effort to restore the health of the state-owned airline.

One of the targeted investors is a foreign airline business player who is a hub player. Such as Singapore, Dubai and Qatar.

Deputy Minister of BUMN II Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said that there are two types of investors, namely investors from business players and financial investors who are targeted to enter PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk.

Tiko as Kartika is familiar with, explained that for business investors, his party is targeting hub players in the aviation industry who do not concentrate on the domestic aviation business.

"This has tremendous potential because as we know there are many airline players, these are hub players. Like Singapore, Dubai, Qatar, these are hub players, they don't have a domestic market. We hope this will be a good combination if there are hub players. who can become investors," he said in a virtual press conference, Tuesday, June 28.

Tiko admitted that he had a specific target as to what kind of investors he would attract. Tiko is also optimistic that these investors will be interested in joining Garuda Indonesia.

Moreover, continued Tiko, Indonesia has a strong domestic passenger. In fact, Indonesia is included in the ranks of countries that have large domestic traffic such as China and the United States.

"We have contacted several. Guess who the international airline business is willing to work with. We believe that with Indonesian passengers who are extraordinary, we can see that Indonesia is one of the countries in the world with large domestic traffic," he said.