Estimating The Aviation Industry To Return To Normal In 8 Months, Erick Thohir: Signs That 400 Aircraft Fleet Are Operating

SOE Minister Erick Thohir. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN) Erick Thohir said the recovery process for the aviation sector had already taken place with the 2022 Eid homecoming. He also estimated that the normal point of domestic aviation sector business would occur within the next 6-8 months.

"Now it's starting to return to normal in many countries, including in Indonesia maybe in 6 months, of course the alternative to flights means official travel via flights or tours, of course it will go to normal in maybe 6-8 months more," he said when met in the region. Gelora Bung Karno, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday, April 27.

Erick said, the normal point of the aviation business in the country is marked by the operation of a fleet of 400 aircraft. Meanwhile, according to Erick, currently there are only 200 aircraft operated by a number of airlines.

Furthermore, Erick said that one of the business industry recovery that the government is concentrating on is aviation. This is because the airline business has been quite impacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The condition of the COVID-19 pandemic, which once worsened, resulted in the implementation of Emergency PPKM, then continued with PPKM Levels 3 and 4, making the aviation industry battered.

Garuda Indonesia is one of the airlines experiencing financial problems during the COVID-19 pandemic. The financial structure of the issuer with the GIAA stock code is indeed bloody because income and expenses are not balanced. This condition was exacerbated by the total debt that reached Rp139 trillion.

Next, there is Sriwijaya Air. This airline also had a slump when a joint venture with Garuda Indonesia broke up, so that it was finally forced to lay off its workers.

Moreover, previously Sriwijaya Air had an accident incident, of course it added tremendous losses for the airline.