All Garuda Indonesia Airplanes Are Threatened To Be 'Caged' Aka Grounded, This Is The Comment Of The Deputy Minister Of SOE Tiko

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) predicts that up to the next 6 months the entire fleet of aircraft owned by PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk will be withdrawn by lessors or aircraft charter companies. The withdrawal is carried out if Garuda's debt restructuring is not accelerated.

Deputy Minister of SOEs II, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo explained that currently, the reduction in the number of issuer aircraft with the stock code GIAA is continuing. Until now, only 50 to 60 Garuda aircraft are operating.

For your information, Garuda Indonesia's fleet ownership currently reaches 142 aircraft, consisting of 136 leased aircraft and 6 self-owned aircraft.

"Garuda needs speed (debt restructuring), if it's not fast, within 3-6 months all the planes can be grounded," Kartika said, quoted on Thursday, November 11.

Tiko, as he is familiarly called, said the reduction in the number of planes was also in line with the cuts in a number of flight routes. The Ministry of SOEs will cut Garuda's flight routes from 237 routes to 140 routes. This means that there will be 97 closed routes.

Tiko said that the state-owned issuer's flight routes were focused on routes that were not business-friendly and strengthened super-premium routes.

Furthermore, Tiko revealed that currently there has been a shortage of Garuda flight routes in a number of areas. This made the government receive complaints from a number of prospective passengers.

"Garuda is the most drastic of its 140 planes, currently there are only 50-60 aircraft operating, so we have received many complaints over the past month, Garuda flights are getting rarer, because the planes are grounded," he said.