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JAKCHAT/Garuda to buy new Boeing aircraft
JAKCHAT/Garuda to buy new Boeing aircraft
JAKCHAT/Garuda to buy new Boeing aircraft
Garuda are not run as a commercial organisation so how can they be expected to compete in a highly competitive commercial market
JAKCHAT/Garuda to buy new Boeing aircraft
JAKCHAT/Garuda to buy new Boeing aircraft
In their day they competed on price - unfortunately times change and they are no longer able to undercut their competition. IMHO they should stick to the local market
JAKCHAT/Garuda to buy new Boeing aircraft
JP/Garuda to buy new Boeing aircraft
Garuda Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar said in Jakarta on Monday the first Boeing planes would be delivered in 2009, with the rest expected to arrive in stages through February 2012.
The new planes will replace some of Garuda's older planes, so the size of the airline's fleet will only increase to 55 aircraft from the current 48.
Emirsyah said the new aircraft would cost between US$35 million and $40 million each, far lower than the price of $75 million on Boeing's website.
"The price will depend on the specifications of the planes we order," Emirsyah said, adding that the company was still discussing financing schemes to fund the purchase.
Garuda may source the funding from bank loans, leasing or from the proceeds of a planned share divestment to strategic investors, he said.
The purchase of the new B737-800 airliners follows up an agreement signed by Garuda and Boeing in September 2005.
"We confirmed the purchase contract in December last year," Garuda finance director Alex Maneklaran said, adding the airline had already paid $23 million to Boeing.
One of Garuda's Boeing airliners overshot the runway and burst into flames at Adi Sucipto International Airport in Yogyakarta, Central Java, earlier this month. Twenty-one passengers were killed and dozens others injured in the accident, which was just the latest in a string of airline accidents in the country.
The Transportation Ministry recently announced that no airlines in the country, including Garuda, satisfied the criteria for the top safety compliance category.
The ministry also said it planned to issue a regulation prohibiting local airlines from buying aircraft older than 10 years in order to improve air safety.
Emirsyah said the ailing Garuda, with outstanding debts of about $748 million, was on the recovery track following business consolidation efforts over the past year years.
He said the company's balance sheet, which has been in the red for the last three years, was "very encouraging" for the past several months.
According to Emirsyah, Garuda's balance sheet has returned to black, with a net profit of about Rp 149 billion in the first two months of this year, compared to a net loss of Rp 37 billion in the same period last year.
The carrier, which suffered of about Rp 811 billion in 2004, Rp 688 billion in 2005 and Rp 191 billion in 2006, is expected to book a net profit of Rp 45 billion this year, Emirsyah said.
He said that of 26 domestic routes currently served by the airline, only two had suffered losses in the last two months. In the corresponding period last year, only three out of 23 domestic routes generated a profit.
"And most of the international routes served by Garuda have now made a profit. Last year, they all suffered losses," Emirsyah said.
Garuda's international destinations include Tokyo, Osaka, Riyadh, Sydney, Perth and Melbourne.
The airline's long-haul flights to Europe were halted following the 1997 economic crisis in Indonesia. The routes are now served under a code sharing agreement with other airlines.
JAKCHAT/Garuda to buy new Boeing aircraft
JP/Garuda to buy new Boeing aircraft
Are these new planes going to be use for domestic, International routes? Anyone with more insight on this?
I am smelling Garuda's public relation working hard to ease the fear of public flying.