Garuda transfers 19 F28s to Air Force and Merpati
Garuda transfers 19 F28s to Air Force and Merpati
JAKARTA (JP): The country's flag carrier Garuda Indonesia
yesterday handed over 19 aging Fokker-28 aircraft to the Air
Force and its sister company Merpati Nusantara Airlines.
In a simple ceremony held at the Garuda Maintenance Facility
(GMF) in Cengkareng west of here, Minister of Transportation
Haryanto Dhanutirto symbolically washed one of the F-28 aircraft
with flowered water and introduced it to Air Force Chief of Staff
Marshall Rilo Pambudi.
Merpati received 17 F-28-4000 airplanes, which have been
operated for about 17,500 hours to 22,500 hours. The Air Force
received two F-28-3000s which have been operated for 25,000 hours
on average.
According to Haryanto, the two aircraft for the Air Force,
modified for 38 seats only, will be used to transport VVIP and
VIP passengers.
Garuda, which started operating the F-28s between 1977 and
1984, plans to modernize its fleet. It began to slash the
operation of aging airplanes and offered nine Airbus A300-B4s and
11 DC-9s for sale.
The carrier has not succeeded in selling the aircraft as
several unidentified companies, mostly from the United States,
have asked to procure the A300-B4s, for instance, at US$13
million each, lower than their common value of around $15
million.
Garuda's fleet now consists of 55 aircraft, including two
Boeing 747-400s, six Boeing 747-200s, one Boeing 747-200 Combi,
eight Boeing 737-300s, seven Boeing 737-400s, nine Airbus 300-
B4s, 10 Airbus 300-600s, six DC-10-30s and six MD-11s.
Equity
Meanwhile, Merpati's president, Ridwan Fataruddin, told
reporters yesterday that Garuda actually handed over the aircraft
as government's equity participation in his company. Each of the
used F-28 aircraft costs $3 million.
Merpati previously leased the aircraft from Garuda at $506
per hour. As Merpati operates one F-28 for about six hours per
day, it had to pay about $1.55 million per month to Garuda for
leasing 17 F-28s.
Merpati, which will become independent next year from its
holding company, operates 90 aircraft, including five advanced
turbo propellers (ATPs), 11 Cassa-212s, 10 Twin Otters, 13
Fokker-27s, three Fokker-100s, 14 CN-235s, six DC-9s and 28 F-
28s. It focuses its business on domestic flights, while Garuda
concentrates its service on international and major domestic
routes.
Haryanto also inaugurated yesterday a housing complex for
Garuda's employees at Teluk Naga, Tangerang west of here.
The company's president, Wage Mulyono, said that Garuda will
construct 914 houses, 337 of which have been completed and 448
others are under construction.
"The construction of the other 129 units will begin soon and
is expected to be completed in June 1995," he said.(icn)