Garuda Kandangkan 15 Airplanes, Minister Of Transportation Opens Voice

Minister of Transportation (Menhub) Dudy Purwagandhi opened his voice regarding the termination of operations of 15 aircraft belonging to PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. He said it was done for maintenance or maintenance.

According to Dudy, if it is time for the planes to enter the maintenance schedule, inevitably it must be done. Because, if it is not done, it will have an impact on safety.

"What I know is maintenance. Because when it's time for maintenance, they have to maintain maintenance. That's why what we want is safety," he said at a press conference, quoted Friday, May 9.

Regarding the news that Garuda Indonesia was unable to finance maintenance, Dudy said it was a different issue. Because, continued Dudy, the company conveyed the termination of aircraft operations because it had to undergo routine maintenance.

"Well, is it during maintenance that they don't have money for maintenance that's another matter. What has just been conveyed is because they are scheduled for maintenance," said Dudy.

Previously, PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk decided to put 15 aircraft units into the workshop to undergo periodic maintenance. Management admitted that it was facing difficulties due to limited supply of aircraft parts.

Garuda Indonesia Technical Director Rahmat Hanafi said the 15 aircraft consisted of 1 belonging to the Garuda Indonesia fleet and 14 others belonged to Citilink Indonesia.

Furthermore, Rahmat said the 15 fleet units were waiting for the acceleration of routine maintenance scheduling in the form of a heavy maintenance process.

"Including spare parts replacement, to be ready to operate again. The entire fleet maintenance process is planned to be carried out this year," he said in an official statement, Tuesday, May 6.

Rahmat said that the maintenance of this fleet took a long time. This is because the global aviation industry is facing challenges, especially the dynamics of the aircraft parts supply chain which is now hitting most of the world's air transportation industry players.

"It is undeniable that the condition of supply chain constraints on spare parts is currently being faced by almost all aviation industry players, causing heavy maintenance to take longer," he said.