Garuda Boss Express The Challenge To Be ABLE To Operation 120 Aircraft This Year

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - The national airline Garuda Indonesia is still faced with challenges and obstacles to be able to operate 120 aircraft this year.

One of them is due to competition between global airlines to obtain aircraft engine repairs.

Garuda Indonesia's target to operate 120 aircraft is the direct instructor of President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and Minister of SOEs Erick Thohir.

The goal is to reach domestic routes which are currently still closed and at the same time suppress the increase in air ticket prices.

"One of the obstacles that we are currently competing with all airlines in the world is the slot for repairs for aircraft engines, we are constantly communicating with them to be able to get an acceleration on that", said Garuda Indonesia President Director Irfan Setiaputra, quoted Friday, October 21.

However, Irfan is optimistic that he can operate 120 aircraft according to the instructor of the majority shareholder.

Therefore, said Irfan, his party continues to monitor.

"Until now, we still have confidence that we can achieve this in the range of 120 aircraft, both Garuda and Citilink. However, from time to time we continue to monitor slots rather than international because this requires a place to work", he said.

Irfan admitted that the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises continuously asked about the development of the target aircraft to be operated.

"The Ministry of SOEs continues to ask me about the progress of these aircraft restorations because it turns out that this is also the President's concern about the existence or number of Garuda and Citilink aircraft that can be operated", he said.

Previously, the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises revealed that Garuda Indonesia's funding source to acquire 120 aircraft came from the State Capital Investment (PMN) of IDR 7.5 trillion.

Special Staff to the Minister of SOEs Arya Sinulingga said that apart from relying on state injection funds, the budget for aircraft rentals also came from foreign and local investors.

However, until now the Ministry of SOEs is still looking for the right investors.