Merpati set to finalize talks on CN-235 soon
Merpati set to finalize talks on CN-235 soon
JAKARTA (JP): Merpati Nusantara, an airline affiliated to state-owned Garuda Indonesia, will finalize negotiations with a private firm on the leasing of 16 locally-made CN-235-200 aircraft next month, a minister said.
Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto said yesterday that Merpati and PT Mitra Guna, the private firm, will reach a leasing accord beneficial to each other.
"The two parties have agreed that the sale price of each CN- 235-200 will be US$9.2 million. Negotiation is now about the rate of the monthly leasing fee -- either 1 percent, 1.1 percent or 1.2 percent of the selling price," he told members of the House of Representatives in a hearing.
He said that the state-owned PT IPTN, the CN-235 producer, usually sells such aircraft at $13 million each.
He corrected press reports that named PT Arthasaka Nusaphala as the private firm, stating instead that Mitra Guna is the correct name of the firm which will lease the 16 aircraft to Merpati.
"I have told the press that Arthasaka is the company which leases 17 Fokker-28s to Merpati, not the CN-235s."
Informed sources said yesterday that the two private firms belong to the same owners. The sources named several top executives of the two companies, including children of President Soeharto and the Bakrie brothers.
Haryanto assured that Merpati will net profits if it operates the CN-235 for at least six-and-a-half hours per day.
"If the monthly leasing fee is 1.2 percent of the aircraft's price, Merpati will gain a profit of Rp 1.86 million per month with a load factor of 65 percent. If the rate is 1.1 percent or 1 percent the profit will reach Rp 34.96 million or Rp 55.88 million per month respectively."
He said that such calculation is based on just four operating hours per day. "CN-235-10 is designed for two-hour or two-and-a- half-hour non-stop operation, while CN-235-200 is for four-hour non-stop operation," he said.
Ridwan Fatarudin said last month as the then Merpati president that the airline decided not to lease CN-235-200s because the airline's CN-235-10s, which were currently in operation, had been losing money due to their high operating costs.
The decision led to controversy over the leasing of the 16 CN- 235-200 aircraft, which ended earlier this month with Ridwan's replacement.
Merpati figured that it lost Rp 406,000 (US$177) per flight on its Jakarta-Bandung service, which is served eight times a day by four CN-235-10s. The total loss may reach Rp 861,000 per flight if CN-235-200 is operated for the same route. The airline suffered total losses of Rp 19.7 billion ($8.6 million) in the January to July period of this year because of the high operating costs of the CN-235-10s.
Haryanto confirmed yesterday that Merpati suffered losses in the last three years.
"Merpati's losses reached Rp 39.79 billion and Rp 65.63 billion in 1993 and 1994 respectively. This year the figure is estimated to reach Rp 63.74 billion," he said, adding that Merpati must improve its performance after its management is split from Garuda early next year.
He said that Merpati must also work quickly in leasing more aircraft, which will arrive next month.
"There will be two (used) B-737-200 aircraft, three Twin Otters and several BAe-146s delivered to Indonesia. Garuda also offers two A-300-B4s," he said. "I hope Merpati can negotiate tactfully to lease and operate more aircraft soon because December and January will be the peak season." (icn)