Pursuing Profits, Garuda Will Be Fully Operated From Quarter IV-2022

The plane belongs to the national airline Garuda Indonesia. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Deputy Minister of SOEs Kartika Wirjoatmodjo said that in the near future Garuda Indonesia will not add to its fleet, but the airline will maximize the use of the fleet it currently has.

"We cannot also quickly increase the number of aircraft in the short term. Because we still need aircraft maintenance repairs. Some of the aircraft we operate are still unable to fly because there must be maintenance costs. We will push for 3 months so that our fleet is in 2022 it can be fully operational," he said in a virtual press conference, Tuesday, June 28.

That way, Tiko as Kartika is familiar with, said it was hoped that in the final quarter of 2022 Garuda could really operate fully.

Because, Tiko admitted, he received many complaints because Garuda only served one flight a day.

"It is hoped that in the fourth quarter of 2022 we can properly maximize our fleet, fully operate and hopefully people can start to see that Garuda and Citilink can start to appear on many routes with more slots," he said.

Tiko also said that the Ministry of SOEs and the management of Garuda Indonesia would conduct flight route simulations.

With the change in the number of fleets and the optimization of this route, Tiko said, it is hoped that next year Garuda will get better profits.

"We have to be careful in determining which route is our main route. How can Garuda enter the premium segment, Citilink enter the LCC segment and can optimally provide services to the community. But with adequate profitability," he said.

Moreover, said Tiko, SOE Minister Erick Thohir has asked PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk to focus on domestic flight routes. Of the total routes operated by Garuda, 89 percent must be domestic.

"But as Minister Erick said, we will reduce our international routes and we will focus 80 percent on domestic," he said.

Even so, Tiko said Garuda will still serve international routes such as Umrah and Hajj, as well as other routes such as Jakarta-Singapore, Jakarta-Amsterdam and Jakarta-Sidney which will be the core international flight routes.