Observers Say It's Not Easy For Pelita Air To Replace Garuda Indonesia: Their Routes And Branding Are Not Comparable

Airplane. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Aviation observer Arista Atmadjati suggested that PT Pelita Air Service (PAS) target the flight segment in remote areas to improve air connectivity in the country.

"If Pelita Air becomes a scheduled flight, it is very necessary in the feeder. I recommend (Pelita Air) filling in pioneer flights because the opportunities are very open," Arista said as quoted by Antara, Wednesday, October 27.

Arista explained that if Garuda Indonesia was declared closed by the government due to financial problems and replaced by Pelita Air, the opportunities and challenges would be different.

According to him, Garuda Indonesia's position is not easily replaced by Pelita Air. This is because Garuda has very large facilities and infrastructure, including the number and routes of aircraft which are not comparable to the current Pelita Air.

Then, Pelita Air also does not have a corporate image (branding) as good as Garuda Indonesia.

"It takes years to bring in planes and fill international flights. Apart from that, the issue of branding is not an easy matter," he said.

Not only that, Arista revealed that the Human Resources (HR) supporting organization owned by Garuda Indonesia is currently quite complete, including education for Captains and Pilots according to the airline's rating.

Therefore, Arista suggested Pelita Air to fill slots for pioneer flights or feeders on a number of islands throughout Indonesia.

"This Pelita starts from charter flights and continues to upgrade to regular classes. My advice is to fill in flight routes that are not or have not been filled by many other airlines, as Merpati Airlines used to do," he said.

Arista added that apart from filling the pioneer flight slots, Pelita Air also opened goods/cargo and fishery commodity transportation services in Eastern Indonesia. In addition, Pelita Air can also maximize the aircraft maintenance and maintenance business.

"The opportunity for Pelita Air is indeed great, but it is not appropriate when faced with Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, or Citilink that already exist," he concluded.

As is known, the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) is preparing PT Pelita Air Service (PAS) as the national scheduled airline to replace PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk (GIAA).

The preparation of Pelita Air as a scheduled airline is to anticipate if the restructuring and negotiations being carried out by Garuda do not go according to plan.