Garuda determined to improve service<\/p>\n
By K. Basrie<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Today, state-owned air carrier PT Garuda
\nIndonesia celebrates its 48th anniversary in the midst of endless
\npublic complaints, government hopes for better earnings and the
\nairline's desire to go public.<\/p>\n
The airline's beginning was marked by the historical maiden
\ncommercial flight of the country's first airplane, Dakota RI-001
\nSeulawah, a DC-3, on Jan. 26, 1949, from Burma (now Myanmmar).<\/p>\n
The plane, originally designed for official flights of the
\nlate president Sukarno, flew commercially under the initiative of
\nits pilots, who had been stranded in India since December 1948
\nfollowing Indonesia's post-Independence clash with the colonial
\nDutch.<\/p>\n
The plane was having a complete overhaul at Calcutta's airport
\nwhen the crew found themselves unable to communicate with their
\nhome base in Yogyakarta due to the war.<\/p>\n
At that time, the Dutch destroyed Indonesian airports and made
\nall airspace impregnable.<\/p>\n
After running out of funds and dreaming of more planes, the
\npilots and several Indonesian diplomats decided to offer the
\nSeulawah for commercial service.<\/p>\n
The crew's request to take part in India's business flights
\nwas rejected by that country's government. However, their plea to
\nthe Burmese government was accepted.<\/p>\n
Under the name of Indonesian Airways, Seulawah and its crew
\nwere hired by the Union of Burma Airways for the Burmese military
\nand civilian operation.<\/p>\n
The name Seulawah was given to the plane to honor Aceh traders
\non the northern tip of Sumatra, who -- hand in hand -- raised
\nfunds totaling 130,000 Straits dollars and 20 kilograms of gold
\nfor the purchase of the used Dakota plane in Singapore.<\/p>\n
Seulawah, meaning golden mountain, is the name of a mountain
\nin Aceh.<\/p>\n
Garuda today<\/p>\n
The plane is now history, but its epic journey inspired
\nSukarno's cabinet to establish a state-owned commercial airline.<\/p>\n
Now, PT Garuda Indonesia is an airline with several
\nsubsidiaries in related businesses, such as travel, catering
\nservices, airplane maintenance, hotels and transportation.<\/p>\n
Garuda currently has a fleet of 60 planes, comprising three
\nBoeing B-747-400 jets, six Boeing B-747-200s, eight B-737-300s,
\nseven B-737-400s, 10 Airbus A-300-600s, nine A-300-B4s, six MD-
\n11s, six DC-10s, two F-28-4000s and three F-28-3000s.<\/p>\n
The airline serves 20 domestic routes, stretching from Aceh in
\nthe west to Jayapura in the east, and 35 international
\ndestinations, covering major cities in Europe, the Middle East,
\nAsia, America and Australia.<\/p>\n
It employs 14,313 people including 679 pilots, 93 flight
\nengineers, 3,058 cabin crew and 3,353 maintenance personnel.<\/p>\n
Garuda carries almost six million passengers a year.<\/p>\n
In order to be able to make a smooth take-off as a world-class
\nairline and a mega carrier by 2000, Garuda is establishing
\nstrategic alliances with other airlines, which are expected to
\nassist Garuda in its commercial operations and strengthen and
\nexpand its favorable routes.<\/p>\n
The first alliance was signed with KLM in 1994.<\/p>\n
\"We're now sounding out the possibility of setting up a
\nsimilar alliance with Northwest Airlines from the United States,\"
\nsaid Garuda's president, First Marshal Soepandi.<\/p>\n
Late last month, Garuda and Northwest signed a memorandum of
\nunderstanding designed to lead to an operational and marketing
\nalliance.<\/p>\n
If an alliance is formed, Garuda will be able to fly its
\npassengers from Jakarta, for example, to many American cities,
\ninstead of only Los Angeles like now. The short flights of Garuda
\npassengers in the United States would be served by Northwest.<\/p>\n
\"To meet customers' demands, we'll continue to seek additional
\nstrategic partners within the next few years under a very
\nvigilant plan,\" said Soepandi.<\/p>\n
Garuda Indonesia's subsidiaries comprise PT Merpati Nusantara
\nAirlines, Garuda Maintenance Facility and PT Aerowisata, which
\nmanages nine hotels in major tourist destination areas and runs
\ncatering and transportation services.<\/p>\n
Based on the government's advice that Garuda concentrate on
\nits core business, the airline has started to sell some of its
\nsubsidiaries and its assets as part of its financial
\nrestructuring program.<\/p>\n
Burdened by hundreds of millions of dollars in liabilities
\nsince the late 1980s, the airline is restructuring its marketing,
\noperations and organization in order to revitalize its business.<\/p>\n
As a result, Garuda was able to reduce its losses last year by
\nmore than 75 percent to a loss of Rp 87.44 billion (US$36.8
\nmillion) from Rp 342.79 billion in 1995.<\/p>\n
In an interview Thursday prior to its anniversary, Soepandi
\ndeclared that Garuda projected a profit of Rp 308 billion this
\nyear.<\/p>\n
If everything goes as planned, Garuda will go public by the
\nend of next year.<\/p>\n
\"It's indeed difficult work for us,\" said Soepandi, who has
\nbeen at the airline's helm for two years.<\/p>\n
Soepandi, who is a former adjutant to President Soeharto, may
\nbe right. Even though Soepandi and his team have strived for
\nrapid and significant improvement in all divisions of the
\nairline, there are still complaints from dissatisfied passengers
\nabout ground staff and cabin crew services.<\/p>\n
Passengers never complain about the food, for instance, but
\nmostly about the behavior of staff serving the food, he said.<\/p>\n
Some say several of the airline's staff members are rude and
\nhave no sense of properly serving individual passengers.<\/p>\n
\"They are only good to VIPs or wealthy-looking passengers,\"
\nsaid a customer.<\/p>\n
Complaints<\/p>\n
Flight delays are still painfully standard. Worse, an apology
\nto passengers is rare. In many cases, delays are announced only
\nafter staff are questioned by passengers.<\/p>\n
A couple from Cilegon, West Java, who were traveling from
\nManado in North Sulawesi late last month said their journey,
\nwhich should have taken four and a half hours, took over 27
\nhours. Passengers received no apology from the airline.<\/p>\n
Because of the poor attitude of some Garuda personnel, there
\nis a pun about the airline which says that Garuda stands for
\n\"Good and Reliable Until Delay is Announced\".<\/p>\n
The airline pays great attention to all complaints, said
\nSoepandi, 59, who was Garuda's former vice president for human
\nresources development and corporate affairs in 1994.<\/p>\n
\"We have done a lot of things in the past few years, such as
\nasking all top executives to directly go to the airport to find
\nout about and tackle customers' problems,\" said Soepandi, who was
\naccompanied by vice presidents for commercial affairs, Sudarso
\nKaderi Wiryono, operational affairs, Dharmadi, human resources
\ndevelopment and corporate affairs, Eko Suwaryo, and financial
\naffairs, Subianto.<\/p>\n
As a result, said Dharmadi, a number of Garuda personnel have
\nbeen chastised or dismissed for poor performance.<\/p>\n
During on-the-spot inspections, the executives found poor
\nmanagement in the handling of customers whose flights were
\ndelayed.<\/p>\n
\"Flight delays are problems for many airlines but our
\nmanagement of delays still need improvement,\" said Dharmadi.<\/p>\n
According to Dharmadi, one of the main problems is a lack of
\ncapability of reception staff, who wear Garuda uniforms but are
\nhired from another company.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes they are not at their booths to help explain flight
\ndelays. So, it seems they have no responsibility at all,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Because of the shortcoming, Garuda has decided not to extend
\nits contract with the company this year, he said.<\/p>\n
Garuda is still seriously and keenly implementing an \"on time
\nperformance\" program to boost its flight punctuality as part of
\nits customer satisfaction improvement programs, he said.<\/p>\n
Dharmadi said that in the past few months, the rate of flight
\ndelays has been about 10 percent to 15 percent, the maximum
\ntolerable rate set by the International Air Transport
\nAssociation.<\/p>\n
Since being appointed the airline's chief in January 1995,
\nSoepandi has made remarkable progress in piloting the 48-year-old
\nairline to become more efficient and profitable.<\/p>\n
Improving the quality of customer service has top priority in
\nSoepandi's eight-point plan.<\/p>\n
He has also cut the number of seats reserved for top
\nexecutives by 50 percent to lessen bureaucracy. By 2000, Garuda
\nwill have only a maximum of 10,000 employees, compared to the
\npresent 14,313.<\/p>\n
\"The reduction of employees will be applied naturally, such as
\nthrough the pension scheme and punishment,\" said Eko Suwaryo.<\/p>\n
Soepandi's other plans are to ensure efficient operation of
\nhaj departures, to improve the quality of human resources, to
\nmake sure the fleet meets Garuda's specific network needs, to
\ndevelop strategic business units and to develop strategic
\nalliances, which in turn could improve profitability.<\/p>\n
\"With such tough competition worldwide, Garuda must be on the
\nalert in order to reach its goals,\" Soepandi said.<\/p>\n
For that purpose, Garuda's district managers from all over the
\nworld were recently flown to Jakarta to visit its Duri Kosambi
\ntraining department office to further discuss methods and collect
\nfresh ideas on how to build a strong Garuda.<\/p>\n
\"Without customer satisfaction and better management,
\ninvestors might not want to buy our shares later,\" said Soepandi.<\/p>",
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