Before The Fall Of SJ-182, Sriwijaya Air Had Wanted To Make Money By 'taking The Floor' On The Indonesia Stock Exchange

Sriwijaya Air aircraft with registration code PK-CLC and the name of Citra's hull which is believed to have crashed in the waters of the Thousand Islands on Saturday, January 9, 2021 (Photo: Special)

JAKARTA - The accident of the disappearance of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 plane which was later reported to have crashed in the waters of the Thousand Islands, Jakarta on Saturday, January 9, raised concerns from various parties. The plane with the Jakarta-Pontianak route lost contact from the ATC control tower a few minutes after taking off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport at 14:36 WIB.

Long before the unfortunate incident occurred, the airline owned by the Chandra Lie family was said to have wanted to change the company's status to a public entity through an initial public offering (IPO) mechanism.

Based on information compiled by VOI, the Sriwijaya Group's intention to become a public company was widely heard in mid-2017. At that time the boss said that the airline would release the initial shares with a percentage of 25 percent. However, Chandra is reluctant to say exactly when the IPO will be executed.

"The plan is for the funds raised to be used for expanding the company's business," said Chandra at that time.

Sriwijaya Group's efforts to 'take the floor' on the Indonesia Stock Exchange appear to be a strategic step to strengthen the business capital structure. This is because the airline, which has been operating since 2003, is believed to be in an unhealthy financial condition.

As previously reported, Sriwijaya Air had experienced several obstacles in flight operations.

As an illustration, in November 2018 Sriwijaya Air was known to have a number of payment obligations to Garuda through its subsidiary PT Garuda Maintenance Facility AeroAsia Tbk. (GMF) related to aircraft maintenance.

Not only Sriwijaya Air, PT Nam Air, which is one of Sriwijaya's business lines, is also included in the operational cooperation scheme (KSO) for both parties.

On its way, on September 24, 2019, GMF began to remove engines and several properties from the Sriwijaya airframe, and stopped aircraft maintenance services in the aftermath of unfulfilled unfulfilled costs.

Not long ago, on October 1, 2019 Sriwijaya and Garuda agreed to reconcile and resume operational cooperation with a renewal of the agreement agreed upon by both parties.

Then, the split between the two domestic airlines appeared again. On November 7, 2020, news broke that Sriwijaya and Garuda had broken up partnerships (again). Garuda explained that the cooperation with the airline owned by the Chandra Lie family was only in a business-to-business (b to b) scheme. Meanwhile, Sriwijaya's obligations with the lessor are entirely the responsibility of the company and are not part of Garuda's interests.

In early 2020, Sriwijaya Air began to open up to the company's financial condition. Sriwijaya Air Group President Director Jefferson Jauwena said that the information related to the company's debt currently circulating in the public is a one-sided claim by the debtor.

"For that we need to make sure by appointing an independent auditor whether the debt being collected is reasonable or not," he said during a press conference in Jakarta, January 20, 2020.

Meanwhile, information regarding the value of Sriwijaya Air's obligations, which is currently known, amounted to IDR2.02 trillion in 2019. This figure consists of arrears to GMF of IDR616 billion, Pertamina IDR846 billion, and PT Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) IDR563 billion.

Today, Sriwijaya Air is facing an unfortunate situation. Hopefully all parties related to this airline get the best solution for the problems it faces. Moreover, for the families of SJ-182 passengers, every right and obligation must be fulfilled.

So, Sriwijaya Air's slogan "Your Flying Partner" can continue to exist and still win the trust of the Indonesian people as a provider of good air services.