Garuda Indonesia Returns 2 Bombardier CRJ-1000 Airplanes

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk is gradually returning the Bombardier CRJ-1000 aircraft, which in this initial phase was carried out through the return of two of the Company's production aircraft based in Montreal, Canada, from a total of 18 aircraft that had been operated by Garuda Indonesia.

The return of the two Bombardier CRJ-1000 aircraft with registration numbers PK-GRQ and PK-GRN departed at 09.00 WIB from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport to MHIRJ Facility Service Center, Tucson, Arizona, United States, on Monday, August 1.

The return of the fleet is part of the fleet restructuring strategy implemented by Garuda Indonesia in line with the finalization of the homologation decision on Suspension of Debt Payment Obligations (PKPU) including the intensification of the Company's strategic plan to accelerate performance recovery.

President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra, said the return of the fleet was part of Garuda Indonesia's transformation steps to strengthen more solid operational fundamentals.

Furthermore, Irfan said, how to strengthen operational fundamentals by optimizing fleet utilization and adjusting production equipment including aircraft specifications that are tailored to market segmentation and characteristics.

"This is also in line with our commitment to being more careful and prudent in developing performance expansion steps based on the need for more measurable production equipment and prioritizing cost leadership bases in every process", he said in an official statement, in Jakarta, Tuesday, August 2.

Previously, on July 19, Garuda had returned the only Boeing 737 Max-8 fleet with registration number PK-GDA to the lessor Bocomm Leasing in the Netherlands.

Furthermore, Irfan said that the company's long-term restructuring measures were also optimized through a mutual agreement with the lessor related to changes or extensions of the lease contract.

Such as the implementation of the power by the hour scheme for the payment of aircraft rental fees, where later the company will pay the rental fee based on the flight hours of the aircraft.

Through these various strategic steps, said Irfan, Garuda Indonesia managed to reduce rental costs for narrow-body aircraft to around 30 percent and wide-body aircraft to around 69 percent.

In addition, Irfan admitted that he will continue to evaluate the condition of the operating routes by adjusting the type of fleet based on the level of passenger occupancy through the use of wide-body fleets for routes that have a positive contribution to the company's performance.

"Meanwhile, to provide various alternative international flight destinations for service users, Garuda Indonesia will optimize synergies with airline partners through interline and codeshare schemes", said Irfan.

Irfan said, in line with the follow-up to the agreement that the company had successfully reached with the lessor and supported by improved performance which began to show positive growth, Garuda Indonesia would further increase the operation of its fleet.

"A total of 3 B737-800 NG fleets were previously relocated by lessors to complete the projected operation of the Garuda Indonesia fleet, which is estimated to reach 60-70 fleets by the end of 2022", he said.