Garuda to cooperate with Dutch airline<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia,
\nwhich plans to sell part of its shares to a foreign party through
\ndirect placement, has signed an agreement with Royal Dutch
\nAirlines KLM of the Netherlands in order to improve its air
\nservices.<\/p>\n
Garuda's director for commercial affairs, Kussuyono, said here
\nMonday that the agreement was signed by Garuda's director for
\ngeneral affairs Supandi and KLM's president Pieter Bouw in
\nAmsterdam on Dec. 15 in a ceremony attended by Minister of
\nTransportation Haryanto Dhanutirto.<\/p>\n
Kussuyono said that the air cooperation deal was part of
\nGaruda's new policy to set up alliances with foreign airliners as
\na means of developing and improving its services and management.<\/p>\n
"But so far we have not discussed details of the cooperation.
\nAll items of the deal, including the planned stake to be offered,
\nwill be negotiated in our meetings with KLM's executives next
\nyear," Kussuyono was quoted yesterday by Kompas daily.<\/p>\n
He said that his company chose KLM for one of its partners due
\nto their long-standing cooperation with Garuda in serving some of
\nits European flight routes.<\/p>\n
Garuda and KLM have also made a deal to open new non-stop
\nflights from Surabaya in East Java to Amsterdam.<\/p>\n
Networks<\/p>\n
Kussuyono said that with the new cooperation, Garuda will be
\nable to tap KLM's existing flight networks linking Africa and
\nsome European countries. "Garuda even has an option to use flight
\nnetworks owned by KLM's alliance, Northwest of the United States,
\nwhich serves almost every region in the world, including America,
\nAustralia, Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n
The government has officially announced its plan to sell some
\nof Garuda's stake to foreign investors to help the company
\nrealign both its management and financial structure, thereby
\nenabling it to offer common shares on the domestic and
\ninternational capital markets.<\/p>\n
Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad early this month told
\nmembers of the Budgetary Commission of the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR) that Garuda's privatization plan, which has
\nbeen approved by President Soeharto, will require the investment
\nof foreign airlines with good reputations.<\/p>\n
Mar'ie said that the government will tender the sale of the
\nstake among prospective foreign investors. He added the
\ngovernment is also determining the ceiling of the stake to be
\noffered to foreign parties.<\/p>\n
The privatization plan for the 45 year old airline was also a
\nresult of its poor financial performance over the past years. The
\nGovernment Audit Agency (BPKP) qualified Garuda's financial
\nperformance as unhealthy last year. Based on its profitability,
\nliquidity and solvability, the airline was regarded as less
\nhealthy in 1989, 1991 and 1992, but it was very healthy in 1990.
\n(fhp)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/garuda-to-cooperate-with-dutch-airline-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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