Erick Thohir Opens Opportunities For Cooperation Between Garuda Indonesia And Qatar Airways To All Nippon Airways

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of SOEs opens up opportunities for Garuda Indonesia's code sharing agreement with international airlines. Having previously succeeded in facilitating cooperation with Emirates.

The global airlines being targeted include Qatar Airways and the Japanese state-owned airline, All Nippon Airways (ANA).

SOE Minister Erick Thohir said the plan was still being processed. He said that this effort was made so that Garuda Indonesia could continue to work on international flight routes. Therefore, Garuda will be focused on serving domestic flights.

"Then, how about going abroad? Well, we have code-sharing as we did with Emirates, we will do it later with Qatar, with ANA, but for profit and profit. So we are still in the process," he said when met at the Kempinski Hotel, Central Jakarta, Friday, November 19.

Erick said that the cooperation between the issuer of the GIAA stock code and the international airline was carried out so that Garuda would still have value in the eyes of its customers.

Furthermore, Erick hopes that this step will have a positive impact in supporting Garuda's new orientation which is more focused on serving domestic routes.

"We compare it with domestic flights in many countries, the US is a very large country that focuses on the domestic market, whether it's Shortest, Continental, United, all of them focus on that, we have to go there. This is a business model," he said.

Although it plans to cooperate with world airlines, the Ministry of SOEs has decided to stop a number of Garuda Indonesia's international flight routes. This effort is part of the GIAA rescue effort.

Previously, Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises II Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said that Garuda Indonesia's international flight routes would be significantly reduced and the volume of cargo still considered adequate. A total of 97 routes, both domestic and international, were reduced. Instead, shareholders are refocusing international routes to domestic ones. This effort will be carried out on a massive scale.

President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia Irfan Setiaputra expressed his apologies to a number of council members and local governments if they had to close unprofitable routes.

In a meeting with Commission VI of the House of Representatives (DPR), on Tuesday, November 9, Irfan revealed that the airline's route plan would be reduced from the original 237 to 140 routes.

"So, gentlemen, we ask for your support as stated, if we are not lucky, we will close. Tarakan will be closed, sorry. We are firm, including the local government and the governor," said Irfan, during a working meeting with Commission VI, Tuesday, November 9.

Furthermore, Irfan said that so far the company has been pressured to open routes that are not profitable because the state-owned airline is also experiencing a lot of pressure to open routes.

According to Irfan, the company bears the loss due to operating on routes that do not generate revenue. The revenue earned by airlines from certain routes is not commensurate with the operating costs incurred.

"Commission VI helped us agree, we did a business plan, Garuda had to make a profit. We know that to make a profit, one of them is under pressure, there is a lot of pressure to open routes," he said.