State-Owned Airline Holding Company Targeted for Completion by 2026

The National Investment Management Agency (Danantara Indonesia) is targeting the establishment of a parent company or holding structure for state-owned airline companies (BUMN) to be completed in the first semester of 2026. The merger of state-owned airlines will comprise PT Garuda Indonesia Tbk, Garuda’s subsidiary PT Citilink Indonesia, and PT Pelita Air Service, which is the airline business unit of PT Pertamina (Persero).

Rohan Hafas, Managing Director of Stakeholders Management at Danantara Indonesia, stated that the formation of the airline holding company will create efficiency and optimise the booking systems of all three companies.

“The holding company structure of Pelita, Citilink, and Garuda means one booking system, one Garuda point, unified mileage, registration, and even seats that can be interchangeable and so forth. This will certainly be more efficient. So it’s an optimisation of the booking system,” said Rohan as quoted by Antara on Friday, 27 February 2026.

Regarding the increase in aircraft numbers, he continued, with the merger of the three airlines, the fleet limitation problems experienced by each company can be resolved, especially if they operate the same routes.

“The number of aircraft becomes larger with a merger. The same routes can currently only operate at 60 per cent capacity for each airline, but if merged, both can operate at full capacity. For example, the Surabaya route is very popular. Citilink operates to Surabaya, Pelita operates to Surabaya, Garuda operates to Surabaya, why not have one flight?” said Rohan.

Along with the merger of booking systems and cooperation among the three companies, Danantara hopes to generate additional revenue for the airlines, particularly Garuda Indonesia, which is still working to achieve profitability. “Hopefully, we can complete this in the first semester of 2026. Because it is very crucial to generate extra income without adding more aircraft,” said Rohan.

However, Rohan was unable to explain in detail the holding structure scheme and the operational cooperation that will be established among the three airlines. “We need to decide what form it will take—whether a merger or something else. This must be carefully calculated, not just a combination or alliance. Because issues such as accounting and combining operations are not easy,” he said.

Previously, Chief Operating Officer Dony Oskaria of Danantara targeted the consolidation process to be completed in the first quarter of 2026. Under this scheme, Garuda Indonesia has been designated as the parent company. “Garuda Indonesia will be the holding parent. Below it will be Citilink and Pelita Air,” said Dony.