Garuda Indonesia Purchased Wrong Bombardier CRJ1000 Airplane, Peter Gontha: Who Ordered It?

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Former Commissioner of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Peter F. Gontha assessed that the management of Garuda Indonesia had made the wrong purchase of the Bombardier CRJ1000 aircraft. According to him, there were parties who deliberately ordered the plane to be purchased, so an investigation was necessary.

"The question is, why was this bombardier plane finally bought? Who forced Garuda to buy this plane? Someone ordered it. Now, this must be investigated," he said during a discussion at the DPR Building, Senayan, quoted on Thursday, December 2.

However, Peter said he didn't want to accuse anyone. Therefore, an investigation must be carried out. This is because this also makes the problems at Garuda Indonesia even more complicated.

"I can't come here to accuse. It's to be expected that something happened because it's very complicated so this is one more thing," he said.

Peter explained that the intention to buy the plane was good to connect major cities in Indonesia. However, the problem is that the Bombardier CRJ1000 aircraft cannot be used in Indonesia. Because according to him, it does not match the shape of the airport in Indonesia.

"But the problem with this plane is that it can fly, but the airport runways are all too short. So it's wrong to buy again," he explained.

Furthermore, said Peter, Garuda should have bought an aircraft made in Brazil instead of the Bombardier CRJ1000. Because the plane can be used in Indonesia.

"The Embraer aircraft should have been purchased from Brazil," he said.

Previously, Peter F. Gontha had highlighted the purchase of the Bombardier CRJ1000 through his social media. Peter considered that the airline's management had bought the wrong CRJ1000 aircraft. He also questioned who proposed to buy the plane.

"This is the wrong Garuda CRJ plane, there are 17 of them. Who told you to buy it? Who is the broker?," he wrote on his personal Instagram account @petergontha, quoted on Thursday, October 28.

According to Peter, the plane is now unusable. As a result, Garuda had to bear the losses from the decision to buy the airplane.

"Now unemployed and reversed. Losing millions?," he continued.

For your information, the Ministry of SOEs under the leadership of Erick Thohir has decided to return 12 Bombardier CRJ1000 aircraft and terminate the contract with Nordic Aviation Capital or NAC which is due in 2027.

In addition, Garuda Indonesia also submitted a proposal for early termination of the lease contract for six other Bombardier CRJ1000 aircraft to Export Development Canada (EDC). Where, Garuda is negotiating the early payment settlement contract for the financial lease of the six planes.

The negotiation process with NAC itself has been carried out several times. Even so, the NAC has not given an approval response. Shareholders consider that this is not a problem. In their review, the shareholders still decided to return the 12 CRJ1000 aircraft.

SOE Minister Erick Thohir said that within a year, Garuda lost up to 30 million US dollars or around Rp. 419.8 billion (exchange rate of Rp. 13,996) because it rented a Bombardier CRJ1000. In fact, Erick said that the rental price for 12 Bombardier CRJ1000 aircraft per year is only US$27 million or around Rp. 377.8 billion.