Garuda Boss Opens Voice About 15 Airplanes Kicked: That's Not True, Just Heavy Maintenance

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Garuda Indonesia President Director, Wamildan Tsani, opened his voice regarding the news of temporarily stopping the operations of 15 aircraft units. He said the news was not true.

The military commander said that the dozens of aircraft units were indeed in line for heavy maintenance treatment which was scheduled for next year.

"So if you want to say that being grounded by 15 planes is actually not right, indeed the queue is still next year," he said in a meeting with Commission VI of the DPR, Jakarta, Wednesday, May 7.

Even so, the Military Commander admitted that he was working to accelerate the routine maintenance of these planes so that they could be carried out this year.

"So the steps we are currently taking are accelerating so that these 15 aircraft can be serviceable this year," he said.

Previously, PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk decided to put 15 aircraft units into the workshop to undergo periodic maintenance. Management admitted that it was facing difficulties due to limited supply of aircraft parts.

Garuda Indonesia Technical Director Rahmat Hanafi said the 15 aircraft consisted of 1 belonging to the Garuda Indonesia fleet and 14 others belonged to Citilink Indonesia.

Furthermore, Rahmat said the 15 fleet units were waiting for the acceleration of routine maintenance scheduling in the form of a heavy maintenance process.

"Including spare parts replacement, to be ready to operate again. The entire fleet maintenance process is planned to be carried out this year," he said in an official statement, Tuesday, May 6.

Rahmat said the maintenance of this fleet took a long time. This is because the global aviation industry is facing challenges, especially the dynamics of the aircraft parts supply chain which is now hitting most of the world's air transportation industry players.

"It is undeniable that the condition of supply chain constraints on spare parts is currently being faced by almost all aviation industry players, causing heavy maintenance to take longer," he said.