Government Opens Opportunities For Airbus To Participate In Developing The Indonesian Aviation Industry

Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi (photo: Ministry of Transportation)

JAKARTA - The government through the Ministry of Transportation opens opportunities for collaboration between international aircraft manufacturer Airbus and national airlines for the development of the aviation industry in Indonesia.

This was conveyed by the Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi when meeting with Airbus Commercial President APAC Anand Stanley at the Singapore Airshow 2024, Tuesday, February 20.

"The government has established close partnerships and collaborations with Airbus. Therefore, I am happy to emphasize that we are open to exploring collaborations from Airbus with various national airlines in Indonesia," Budi said in an official statement, Tuesday, February 20.

Minister of Transportation Budi said that collaboration could be carried out in various forms. Among them are in the manufacture of aircraft parts and various other flight support equipment.

Furthermore, Budi hopes that the cooperation between Airbus and national companies can be further expanded. The collaboration between Indonesia and Airbus itself has started since 1976. Most recently, Airbus is collaborating with PT Dirgantara Indonesia (PT DI) to produce helicopter aerostructure components.

In addition, Airbus also plans to increase the number of Airbus aircraft operating in Indonesian airlines, be it small planes (narrow bodies), or large aircraft (wide bodies).

Budi explained that this was done to see the high demand for flights in Indonesia. Moreover, the government has now opened various new major airports with a runway of 3,000 m, such as Kertajati Airport and Dhoho Kediri Airport.

"The government will support the increase in the number of aircraft through the airlines that already exist or through new airlines through Indonesia's cooperation with foreign airlines. We are open to Airbus' presence on Indonesian airlines," said Budi.

In addition, Budi also hopes that cooperation can be carried out in the field of human resources (HR), namely increasing the capacity of flight human resources in Indonesia through the training of aviation industry practitioners.

Indonesia has benefited many benefits from training-focused technical cooperation, such as the State Safety Program (SSP), Quality Management System (QMS), and Performance-Based Navigation Project (PBN). I hope Indonesia and Airbus cooperation will be stronger for the development of a more advanced and stronger civil aviation industry," he said.