The Pilot Association's Defense Against Troubled Garuda Airline

President of the Garuda Indonesia Pilots Association (APG) Captain Bintang Hardiono (Wardhany Tsa Tsia / VOI)

JAKARTA - The issue of smuggling of spare parts for Harley Davidson motorbikes and Brompton folding bikes in the trunk of Garuda Indonesia aircraft is still being discussed. No doubt many netizens have questioned the permission of these items to be included in the luggage of the plane.

President of the Garuda Indonesia Pilots Association (APG) Captain Bintang Hardiono spoke up about the smuggling case. He said, a pilot could refuse to fly if there was a problem with luggage.

"Yes, we can (refuse to fly) there are various reasons for the pilot not to go, our problematic machine can refuse. (Troubled baggage) can refuse (to fly)," Bintang told reporters at Pulau Dua Restoran, Senayan, Central Jakarta, Thursday. , 12 December.

It's just that, so far, pilots usually can't do much. Given, the party in charge of employee baggage is the ground handler at the airport while the airline pilots only get reports.

"We don't know about our luggage. How do we bring it, we don't know who knows the ground staff," he said.

Meanwhile, regarding the fate of the pilot of the plane carrying Harley Davidson and the smuggled Brompton bicycle, Bintang was reluctant to explain further. But according to him, the pilot of the Airbus A3330-900 NEO plane from France to Indonesia could not be subject to sanctions.

Because, returning to the previous explanation, the pilot is only in charge of carrying the plane. Meanwhile, checking baggage should be done by another party from the airport.

"The pilot flies as the carrier of the plane only. The matter of baggage, cargo, it is the same business as ground staff or ground staff," he said.

Previously, the Harley Davidson and Brompton bike scandal was uncovered by Customs and Excise officers at Soekarno-Hatta Airport, Tangerang while conducting an inspection of a plane that had just landed from France and immediately entered the Hangar 4 Garuda Indonesia Maintanance Facility on 17 November.

During the inspection, customs and excise officers found 18 boxes labeled with passenger luggage. This box was also not reported on flight GA9721, which was known to carry 22 VIP passengers and 10 cabin crew.

After being unloaded, the 18 boxes in the passenger trunk turned out to be containing large Harley Davidson motorbike spare parts, two packages containing Brompton bikes, and spare parts for the plane. It is known, the price of the ShovelHead Harley Davidson motorbike is around Rp. 800 million. As for Brompton bikes, one unit is usually sold for IDR 50-60 million.

As a result of this scandal, the President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra alias Ari Askhara was later removed from his position by the Minister of BUMN Erick Thohir. Not only that, from his actions, the state lost Rp1.5 billion because it did not declare goods.