Flying More Calmly, Garuda Indonesia Ensures All Pilots And Cabin Crew Have Been Vaccinated In 2 Stages

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Photo: Doc. Garuda Indonesia)

JAKARTA - The National Airline Garuda Indonesia ensures that Garuda Indonesia and Citilink, being the first national airlines in Indonesia to serve flights with pilots and cabin crew, have received a complete COVID-19 vaccination.

The President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Irfaniaputra, is in line with the acceleration of the implementation of the vaccination program which began at the end of February for pilots and cabin crew who meet the vaccination criteria and are active on duty.

"The COVID-19 vaccination program for pilots and cabin crew is also a form of our commitment to provide a sense of safety and comfort for passengers, apart from of course maintaining the implementation of health protocols consistently in all flight operational lines", he said in an official statement, Tuesday, May 18th.

Irfan added that the strategy developed by this company is at the same time encouraging public trust in public transportation, especially air transportation, so that it will be more developed.

"We really appreciate the steps taken by the government through the Ministry of Health and related health authorities who also prioritize vaccination for industrial workers, especially in the midst of a situation full of uncertainty, the aspects of health and flight comfort are top priorities for the community", he said.

Furthermore, the boss of the state-owned company supports a number of strategic efforts in a new era of normality that can contribute to the recovery of the socio-economic and tourism sectors in the country.

"In addition, in accordance with the health protocol procedures carried out by the Garuda Indonesia Group, all pilots and cabin crew on duty continue to carry out pre-medical flight procedures including through a negative COVID-19 examination test", said Irfan.

Quoting the company's financial statements released until the third quarter of 2020, it is stated that Garuda Indonesia and all its subsidiaries have a total of 15,368 employees. This number is known to have shrunk compared to the end of 2019 which recorded 15,623 employees.

It was also stated that the COVID-19 pandemic that has occurred since the beginning of 2020 has had a huge impact and has become the worst year in the history of the airline business.

Based on the report on the economic performance of the global airline industry for the period of June 2020 published by IATA, a net loss of $ 84.3 billion was experienced by the world aviation industry due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The number of flight passenger departures decreased by 2,246 million, or the equivalent of negative 50.6 percent when compared to the previous year.

It is estimated that airlines in all regions will record negative operating income throughout 2020. Asia-Pacific, as the first region to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, has experienced greater losses than other regions.

Predictions in 2020, airlines in Asia-Pacific will experience an average loss of passengers reaching 30.1 US dollars.