Citilink And Pelita Air Merger, Erick Thohir Says Ticket Prices Could Drop

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir said the merger between Garuda Indonesia's subsidiary, PT Citilink Indonesia and Pelita Air Service (PAS) will have a positive impact. One of them, the price of airplane tickets can decrease.

According to Erick, this merger or merger will open an open competition between SOEs and the private sector. This is because the merger has increased the number of aircraft belonging to SOEs.

Currently, continued Erick, the price of airplane tickets is still controlled by the private sector with a market percentage of 65 percent, while SOEs are only 35 percent.

"Yes, come back, it can't be fast. If the number of planes increases, the competition is open, yes tickets are decreasing. Today it happened, we can only control 35 percent, 65 percent of the private sector," said Erick, when met at Gedeng DPR, Parliament Complex, Senayan, written Friday, September 1.

Erick said that after the merger, the aircraft that can be operated by state-owned airlines reached 170 aircraft.

The merger target can also run until 2026.

Erick said, currently the number of aircraft operated by SOEs is at 140 fleets.

In detail, 20 aircraft belonging to Pelita Air, Garuda Indonesia 60 aircraft, and Citilink Indonesia 50 aircraft

"Today, the total aircraft in Indonesia 500 have not returned before COVID-19. Pelita, which only has 9 and now 12 aircraft. We can push it in the 20s because the plane's leasing conditions have started to recover," he said.

"Garuda 60 aircraft, Citilink 50 aircraft, if combined not 170, like before the pandemic," he continued.