Garuda back to Fokker-28 for new domestic routes

JAKARTA (JP): The state-owned airline Garuda Indonesia will soon resume operating its aging Fokker-28 aircraft to serve new domestic routes being prepared by the government.

The airline's president, Wage Mulyono, said during a break in a hearing with Commission V of the House of Representatives (DPR) yesterday that operating the F-28s will also help Garuda increase its domestic load factor.

The hearing with the commission, which is in charge of transportation, tourism and public works, was also attended by executives of Merpati Nusantara, a subsidiary of Garuda.

"Garuda, which operates wide-body aircraft for domestic services, suffered losses from its domestic services in the first six months of this year due to low utilization of its seat capacity," Wage said, adding that the load factors decreased to 40 percent in the January-June period from 55 percent last year.

"The market is currently over capacity. The government, in the meantime, is soon expected to announce 24 new domestic routes in addition to the 12 other new domestic routes set earlier," he said.

He said the Ministry of Transportation will authorize Garuda to operate the F-28s later this year.

The carrier currently serves Jakarta, Surakarta in Central Java, Yogyakarta, Surabaya in East Java, Manado in North Sulawesi, Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi, Medan in North Sumatra, Denpasar in Bali, Biak and Jayapura in Irian Jaya, Banda Aceh in Aceh, Balikpapan in East Kalimantan and Batam in Riau.

Rising

"By operating F-28s once again, we expect that our domestic load factors will rise back to 55 percent," he said.

Garuda had previously planned to sell 14 aging F-28s to foreign companies.

The company currently operates a fleet of 55 aircraft, which consist of two Boeing 747-400s, six B747-200s, one B747-200B, eight B737-300s, seven B737-400s, nine Airbus 300-B4s, 10 A300- 600s, six MD-11s and six DC10-30s.

Wage, who refused to specify the amount of Garuda's losses from its domestic services, said that the airline, however, still gained profits from its international services.

Garuda serves 40 international destinations.

Garuda's finance director, Jazid Adam, said that the airline gained a total non-audited profit of Rp 136.3 billion (US$62.58 million) in the first six months of this year, of which Rp 21.2 billion was collected from PT Aerowisata, an affiliated catering company.

Garuda's total profit is estimated to increase by 90 percent to Rp 249 billion this year from last year's profit of Rp 34.1 billion, he said.

Jazid also said that Garuda has a total debt of $615 million for the procurement of seven B737-400s and two B747-400s, which will be repaid wholly by the company.

Merpati

Meanwhile, Merpati's president, Ridwan Fataruddin, told the commission that his company has suffered operational deficits the last few years.

Ridwan refused to disclose the amount of his company's total losses, saying that "it's unethical to disclose the losses here."

Merpati's finance director, Syarifuddin Itoerudin, said recently that the company expects to gain a total revenue of Rp 600 billion (US$275.86 million) this year, some 10 percent higher than last year.

Merpati currently serves 182 routes, including six flights to Singapore. The company owns 87 aircraft, but only 76 of them are operating.

The company's director of operations, Amin Kahar, said that because Merpati operates many Canadian-made Twin Otters on it's Irian Jaya routes, the aircraft's manufacturer plans to open a spare parts shop there.

"The manufacturer will soon submit an application to the government about the plan," he said. (icn)