Garuda Indonesia Regarding The Continuation Of The Purchase Of Boeing Aircraft: The Process Is Still Ongoing

JAKARTA - Garuda Indonesia Technical Director, Mukhtaris revealed the news about the continuation of the purchase of Boeing aircraft. He said, the process is still ongoing, and it will take time.

For your information, Garuda Indonesia is committed to buying 50 Boeing aircraft as part of Indonesia's commitment to negotiating the reciprocal import rate set by US President Donald Trump.

"So, discussions related to the purchase of Boeing planes, especially those directly to the manufacturer, are still running at this time. Because first, the delivery of this aircraft is still far away, and Garuda is also waiting," said Mukhtaris at the Garuda Indonesia Public Expose virtually, Thursday, November 27.

Furthermore, Mukhtaris said that the procurement of direct aircraft to Boeing was included in the company's transformation plan.

"We are still reviewing Pak internally, what will Garuda's program be like in the future, including one of them is a network plan and also a fleet plan. So, the discussion is still ongoing today," said Mukhtaris.

Previously, the Danantara Investment Management Agency (BPI) revealed that a new aircraft order belonging to PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk from the Boeing manufacturer would arrive at the earliest in the next seven years.

Managing Director of Stakeholder Management and Communications Danantara, Rohan Hafas, said that currently the demand for aircraft purchases around the world is high, so the queue for delivery is a challenge faced by Garuda Indonesia.

"Well, the problem is that we want to buy, want to invest a new plane. The first delivery is 7 years from now, the fastest. Queue, buy more planes in line," said Rohan at Wisma Danantara, Jakarta, Friday, October 31.

Rohan explained that the purchase of Boeing aircraft was part of an agreement in negotiating the reciprocal rate with the United States (US) government. However, he emphasized, the long delivery time also applies to other manufacturers.

"Yes (purchase including contracts with the US), it's already on a restructuring contract. We have to buy from Boeing. But ether Boeing, or Airbus, both are 7 years old," he said.

On the other hand, Rohan said that Garuda Indonesia is still trying to complete its obligations to lessors. After financial restructuring, the responsibility for injecting capital originally through the Ministry of Finance has now been transferred to Danantara.

Rohan also revealed that due to the restructuring process, Garuda had lost a number of fleets returned to the lessor because operational costs were not sufficient to pay debt installments.

"Yesterday there was a delay between this transition. He was grounded by several planes that were late in leasing. This means that if you are late like that the passengers are lacking. It means that the income is lacking. It means a loss," he said.