Pelita Air Enters The Commercial Segment, Erick Thohir Wants-Wanti Garuda's Mistakes Can't Be Repeated

Minister of SOEs, Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of SOEs)

JAKARTA - PT Pelita Air Service (PAS) officially entered the national aviation industry on a commercial basis, this was marked by the inaugural regular flight to Bali, yesterday. As a state-owned company, the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir warned the directors of PT PAS to work proportionally.

Erick admitted that he did not want the problematic management of Garuda Indonesia to also happen at Pelita Air. Erick said, the principles of good corporate governance (GCG) must be upheld by Pelita Air's management.

"The lamp must also be part of a healthy paradigm for the aircraft industry. Mistakes that have occurred elsewhere must not be repeated here," he said, quoted Friday, April 29.

In fact, Erick admitted that he would not hesitate to report directly to law enforcement if the mistakes that occurred at Garuda Indonesia were repeated at Pelita Air.

"And I don't hesitate if it happens again, I will report it directly," he said.

On that occasion, Erick also briefly mentioned the issue of renting planes which are more expensive than other countries. As is known, this kind of problem is also suspected to have happened at Garuda Indonesia before.

"Our plane rental period is more expensive than other countries, strange. I'm sure Pelita is not," he said.

For your information, Garuda's mounting debt reaches Rp. 139 trillion, one of which is caused by the very expensive price of the plane. Even four times more expensive than the world average. This is also highlighted by the public.

The issue of the expensive plane rental was revealed by former Commissioner of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Pete F Gontha. He questioned where the difference in the money from the rental price of the Boeing 777-300ER chartered by Garuda Indonesia went.

According to Peter, the usual rental price for a Boeing 777-300ER is US$ 750 thousand per month. However, since the first plane lease letter was signed, the cost incurred by Garuda was US$1.4 million per month.

"This is a Boeing 777, the average rental price in the market is 750 thousand US dollars per month. Garuda starts from the first day paying double? 1.4 million US dollars per month. Where did the money go when it was signed? Just want to know?," wrote Peter on his personal Instagram account @petergontha, quoted Thursday, October 28, 2021.