Garuda Indonesia's Problems Are Revealed Again Through Peter Gontha: This Airline Once Owed Hundreds Of Billions To Traveloka

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Former Garuda Indonesia Commissioner Peter F Gontha opened up about the problems faced by the national airline Garuda Indonesia. He revealed that Garuda owed hundreds of billions to the ticket sales platform, Traveloka.

Peter explained that the debt scheme used was for Garuda to sell tickets through Traveloka. Then, the ticket sales will be taken by Traveloka as a form of payment for Garuda Indonesia's debt.

"So the tickets have been displayed, so in the future if the tickets are paid for via Traveloka, the money will not be for Garuda, for Traveloka and not for Rp10-Rp20 billion, hundreds of billions. But maybe it has been resolved," he said in a discussion at the DPR Building, quoted Thursday, December 2.

Furthermore, Peter said this step was taken by Garuda management, because the national airline was having financial difficulties. Peter admitted that he objected to the loan.

"So all this time Garuda has no money. During the last months and I really object to them borrowing money from Traveloka," he said.

For your information, Garuda Indonesia is currently experiencing a very difficult financial condition. Initially, the company's finances were wobbly because of the mismanagement of the previous management, which indicated that they were practicing mark-ups on aircraft rentals.

SOE Minister Erick Thohir since his early tenure as minister in early 2019 has started cleaning up Garuda Indonesia's internals. This was done after the Brompton-Harley smuggling scandal was revealed. But unfortunately, the company's internal cleaning has not been able to overcome Garuda's chronic illness.

Even now, Garuda's condition is increasingly critical. This is because the condition has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic which has suppressed the company's revenue.

Garuda's recovery efforts have begun to be combined since 2020. However, Garuda's financial situation has not improved. Even now, Garuda has debts worth 9.7 million dollars or equivalent to Rp138.5 trillion (assuming the dollar exchange rate is Rp14,200).

Based on data from Garuda Indonesia's presentation at the RDP with Commission VI of the DPR on November 9, Garuda Indonesia bears a debt of 9.7 million US dollars or Rp138.5 trillion and assets of only 6.9 million US dollars or 98.3 trillion rupiahs.

Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia's equity was also recorded minus 2.8 million US dollars or Rp40.2 trillion with an additional negative equity each month reaching 100 to 150 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp1.3 trillion to Rp2 trillion.

The largest component of Garuda's debt, which is 66 percent or US$ 6,351 million, is debt to lessors. If converted into rupiah, the debt to the lessor will reach Rp90.2 trillion. Then, the composition of the second-largest debt is bank, which is 967 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp13.8 trillion. The percentage reaches 10 percent of the total debt.

Then, OWK, Sukuk, KIK EBA amounted to 630 million US dollars or equivalent to Rp9 trillion. This amount is equivalent to 10 percent of Garuda's debt composition. Then, the debt of SOE vendors is 595 million US dollars, or equivalent to Rp8.4 trillion, with a percentage of 6 percent of the total debt.

Then, private vendor debt with a value of 317 million US dollars or Rp4.5 trillion. The percentage reaches 3 percent of Garuda's debt component. Furthermore, other liabilities amounted to 751 million US dollars or Rp10.7 trillion, with a percentage of 8 percent of the total debt.

Therefore, Deputy Minister of BUMN II Kartika Wirjoatmodjo bluntly said that Garuda Indonesia was technically bankrupt. In fact, the equity balance of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk has surpassed that of PT Asuransi Jiwasraya (Persero). He said that Garuda had negative equity of US$2.8 billion or equivalent to Rp40 trillion.

For your information, PT Asuransi Jiwasraya (Persero) was recorded to have negative equity reaching Rp38.4 trillion as of December 2020. Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia as of September 2021 was in a negative position of USD 2.8 billion or Rp40 trillion.

Kartika said that the drop in the level of Garuda Indonesia's balance sheet was also caused by the statement of financial accounting standard (PSAK) 73 made by the company in 2020-2021 which caused the impact of the decline in equity to deepen.

"In this condition in terms of banking, it is technically bankrupt, but not legally, this is what we are currently trying to get out of this position," he said in a meeting with Commission VI of the DPR, Tuesday, November 9.

Furthermore, Kartika said, the assumption of bankruptcy is because in practice some of Garuda Indonesia's obligations have not been paid. In fact, the salaries of employees have been cut since 2020. As for the salaries of company officials, some have been withheld.

"So we must understand together that Garuda's situation is actually technically bankrupt. Because no longer-term obligations have been paid, including global sukuk, including himbara and so on," he said.