After Japan, Garuda Indonesia Closes Flights To Melbourne And Perth, President Director: Because It's Not Profitable

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk will close international routes and focus on domestic flights. This is done in order to restore the company's finances. Management has confirmed that the closed route is not profitable.

President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra, said that the route that had been removed was a flight to Osaka, Japan. Meanwhile, in the near future routes to Melbourne and Perth, Australia will also be closed.

"We see that in the future it is impossible to make a profit because of the existing conditions, and it is impossible for us to increase cargo. We will stop it, like Melbourne and Perth starting next month we will stop it," he said in a Hearing Meeting with Commission VI, Monday, June 21.

However, Irfan explained, specifically for the purpose of Australia, Garuda Indonesia still maintains one route, namely the destination of Sydney. The reason is because of connectivity and the opportunity for passengers leaving Australia.

Irfan admitted that Australia was indeed one of the countries that implemented a strict lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even before the lockdown was implemented, the number of passengers on the plane was limited to a maximum of 50 passengers.

Meanwhile, continued Irfan, flights outside Australia are free, some flights can even exceed 100 passengers. This is a potential consideration for Garuda Indonesia to maintain the international route to Sydney.

"So on some flights there can be more than 100 passengers, the majority of whom are Indonesians who return, and now because conditions are getting tighter in Australia we are opening Sydney and that too once a week," he said.

Management reviews international routes that will be closed

Irfan said his party would continue to review international flight routes. The goal is to find out which routes are possible to be maintained or closed.

"Singapore is also a bit challenging (challenging) so we started to reduce it, what started to benefit was the destinations of Bangkok, Hong Kong, and China, because China has a charter," he said.

Furthermore, Irfan said that there are several international flight routes that the company maintains. The reason is because the route has the potential to provide benefits in the future, although currently it is still a loss.

Currently, said Irfan, Garuda Indonesia's international flights are cargo-based, considering that shipments of goods are indeed surging during the COVID-19 pandemic. So that along with cargo flights, passenger flights to and from abroad are also carried out.

"So we filled the cargo and then we just took the passengers with us, because it is true that those who boarded our planes, both those who went abroad and returned from abroad, the majority were part of patriation, it was Indonesian citizens who had to go home or foreigners who had to leave," " he said.