Touching Statement By Garuda Indonesia President Director: The Aviation Industry Is At Its Lowest Level In History

Garuda Indonesia aircraft. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia Irfan Setiaputra said that his company's business was greatly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the pandemic brought the world's aviation industry to its lowest level in history.

Furthermore, Irfan said that this is a business reality that cannot be avoided amid the pressure of weakening business performance due to the pandemic.

"This pandemic condition has brought the world's aviation industry to its lowest level in history, where international passenger traffic has experienced a drastic decline of more than 60 percent during 2020," he said in his official statement, Friday, July 16.

In fact, said Irfan, this condition brought international air traffic back to the level of air traffic in 2003. He said that this is a significant setback from the aviation industry which has grown rapidly over the last 10 years.

"This condition is also reflected in Garuda Indonesia's business performance, which is currently having a significant impact on the business continuity aspect. This is also an unavoidable situation faced by various other aviation industry players," he said.

Irfan said, business actors in the aviation industry must take various fundamental steps to optimize their business performance. For example, making efforts to diversify businesses both on a large and small scale, which is nothing but the aim of pursuing business continuity in the midst of the current world aviation industry crisis.

"In these challenging conditions, Garuda Indonesia ensures its commitment to always be present to meet the needs of the Indonesian people's flight service accessibility through a safe and comfortable flying experience," he explained.

Furthermore, Irfan said this was in line with the consistency of the implementation of health protocols in all lines of Garuda Indonesia's operations. The series of maximum efforts certainly cannot be separated from the essence of air transportation as a crucial sector, especially during the Emergency PPKM period that is being implemented.

"The presence of air transportation plays a major role in supporting the movement of logistics and the journey of people who have to fly because they have priority needs during the pandemic," he said.

To meet these needs, Garuda Indonesia will continue to prioritize the implementation of health protocols in accordance with applicable regulations and provisions. Moreover, said Irfan, the COVID-19 pandemic has taught aviation industry players about the importance of accelerative and resilience efforts in producing sustainable business evolution.

"We continue to carry out various strategic steps to restore performance to date, including through consolidation of operations to encourage efficiency and support the company's business continuity amid challenging macro conditions and an increasingly competitive market," he said.