Gatari Air plans to expand overseas<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Despite complaints over its pilot employment
\nsystem, private charter airlines PT Gatari Air Service plans to
\nexpand its business to foreign countries.<\/p>\n
Company president Eddy Pramono told The Jakarta Post over the
\nweekend that Gatari had set short, medium and long-term targets
\nfor its expansion plan.<\/p>\n
\"In the short term, we are improving the company's efficiency.
\nIn medium terms, we are looking for projects with the prospective
\nBusang gold mining, Natuna gas exploration, the Timor gap and
\nIrian Jaya oil explorations,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He said that in the medium term, Gatari would also look for
\noverseas projects not necessarily in neighboring countries, but
\nalso in Africa, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and
\nIndochina.<\/p>\n
In the long term, Gatari planned to start air cargo services,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Pramono denied his company was having trouble over its system
\nof hiring pilots and with its current contracts.<\/p>\n
Company production director, Iwan Paul JT, said Gatari applied
\na rigid three-step test before employing Indonesian or expatriate
\npilots.<\/p>\n
\"Gatari has always signed contracts offering its customers
\nexclusivity. The customer also has the right to choose qualified
\npilots with certain records and ratings.\"<\/p>\n
He said that based on such a scheme, aircraft chartering was a
\nhighly demanding market.<\/p>\n
\"Based on the exclusive-use contract, customers have the right
\nto terminate and extend the contract at anytime at their
\nconvenience,\" he said.<\/p>\n
A pilot recruited by Gatari said that the company was in the
\nprocess of terminating the employment contracts of some
\nexpatriate pilots.<\/p>\n
An Australian pilot left recently after he was told he was no
\nlonger needed. The source said the reason the company was getting
\nrid of staff was because its contract with oil and gas explorer
\nConoco Indonesia Inc. had been terminated.<\/p>\n
Conoco, affiliated with the U.S. chemical giant DuPont Co.,
\nconducts oil exploration in Riau and Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
The source said pilots had frequently complained of poor
\nsafety standards and of particular concern was the lack of spare
\nparts for routine maintenance.<\/p>\n
Gatari's operation manager, Capt. Maryono, and training
\nmanager, Almirul Bawono, reiterated that the company's planes
\nunderwent routine maintenance.<\/p>\n
\"Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft are being maintained
\nregularly at our own maintenance facility, or at other facilities
\nin Singapore, Australia, the United States or New Zealand,
\ndepending on the type of plane,\" said Titik W. Poedjoko, Gatari's
\ndirector of general affairs and finance.<\/p>\n
Gatari, set up in 1983, is one of the largest private air
\ncharter operators in Southeast Asia, offering a wide range of
\nhelicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. The company mostly charters
\naircraft for oil and forest exploitation.<\/p>\n
The company is 78.8 percent owned by PT Humpuss, a private
\nfirm controlled by President Soeharto's youngest son Hutomo
\nMandala Putra, 19.7 percent by Mohamad (Bob) Hasan, one of
\nSoeharto's closest cronies. Gatari's remaining shares are owned
\nby five cooperatives.<\/p>\n
The company gained in December 1995 an international
\ncertificate of ISO 9001 standardization for its design and for
\ngood air services from Det Norske Veritas of the Netherlands. At
\nthe time Gatari was the first aircraft chartering company in Asia
\nto be award such a certificate.<\/p>\n
Gatari, with its 43 aircraft consisting of 16 fixed-wing
\naircraft and 27 helicopters, deals mostly at home, serving oil
\nand mining companies such as Enterprise, Maxus, Fina, Shell,
\nUnocal, Trend and Freeport. (icn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/gatari-air-plans-to-expand-overseas-1447893297",
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