Garuda denies mass pilot exodus to Korean Airlines
JAKARTA (JP): The president of the country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, Soepandi, denied yesterday that a great number of pilots had recently quit the airline.
"Only eight left the company out of the 679 pilots we employ," Soepandi told reporters at his office.
He admitted that the eight pilots, who navigated Airbus A-300 and Boeing B-767 aircraft, had crossed to Korean Airlines (KAL) of South Korea.
"It's up to them whether to work with Garuda or not. The most important things are that they told the management about their resignations six month in advance, and that they have finished their 10-year official obligations working with Garuda," he said at a press conference also attended by dozens of the air carrier's pilots.
He also denied that he had barred the eight pilots from leaving Garuda and had begged KAL not to receive them.
Meanwhile, informed sources said that at least 27 senior pilots had left Garuda over the past two weeks. They planned to join KAL for better remunerations and carrier planning.
They said that Garuda pays a pilot about US$4,000 per month, far lower than the $10,000 to $15,000 per month made by pilots at overseas airlines such as Singapore Airlines and KAL.
According to Soepandi, Garuda is currently pursuing a restructuring program in line with the government's plan to list the company on stock exchanges by 1998.
"We will also consider arranging better pay for the pilots and all employees on the ground."
"I want to stress that all of Garuda's 679 pilots have performed with high dedication to the company. It's also normal that some employees want to leave the firm and work for other parties," he said.
When asked about the reasons for the resignation of the eight pilots, he said: "Maybe they want a new experience."
A senior Garuda pilot, Shadrach M. Nababan, said that a pilot usually undertakes a training course paid by the airline before joining it. The types of the training, ranging between one to one-and-half years, vary depending on what aircraft the pilot will operate.
Nababan, who also chairs a communication forum for Garuda's pilots, said that according to his records, there are currently 627 pilots working with Garuda, most of whom are senior.
"Almost 100 pilots have left Garuda since 1981. Some of them have returned to the company because they had bad experiences at their new places. But when they returned to Garuda, they had to start their careers from the beginning," he said.
Career planning at Garuda also raised concerns from 39-year- old Tarbiyanto, a B-747-200 pilot who has worked for the carrier since 1978.
"Garuda has never considered the experience of a pilot who pursued other training to operate another kind of aircraft," he told The Jakarta Post.
He said that a pilot who underwent further training and then operated a new type of aircraft, for example, would be considered as a newcomer, even though the pilot had four years of experience in operating another kind of aircraft.
Soepandi also told reporters that Garuda had never been involved in delayed flights.
"During the period between June 30 and July 13, for example, the rate of Garuda's flight delays for more than one hour is only 10.6 percent, still less than the maximum tolerable rate of 15 percent set by the International Air Transport Association," he said.
He said that during the period, there were 2,891 Garuda flights, of which only 298 were delayed for more than one hour. The delays, he said, were mostly due to technical problems. (icn)