Garuda Indonesia to Become State-Owned Airline Holding, Aiming to Lower Airfares and Boost Industry

JAKARTA - Coordinating Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development (Menko IPK) Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) revealed that Garuda Indonesia's plan to become a state-owned enterprise (BUMN) airline holding company can support national aviation connectivity and ecosystem. "Regarding the air transportation sector, I support the aerospace and domestic airlines, especially our flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, this also opens up a wide space, because indeed the need for this flight is still very high, especially because our country is an island country, many have to be penetrated using aircraft," said AHY as reported by ANTARA, Monday, July 27. He said that the national industry continues to be strengthened to be able to answer the needs of the community, which is also increasing. "This will hopefully reduce air transportation costs and develop our industrial aerospace ecosystem, that is also very important," he said. For information, Danantara together with the State-Owned Enterprise Regulatory Agency (BP BUMN) encourages the consolidation of state-owned airlines, namely by merging Pelita Air and Garuda Indonesia, as a step to strengthen the national aviation industry. "Garuda Indonesia will later become our airline holding. Pelita will become part of Garuda Indonesia," said the Head of BP BUMN and COO Danantara Dony Oskaria. Dony believes that the consolidation of SOEs will strengthen the group's capacity in facing the aviation industry competition. With this consolidation, he said, these companies will have a stronger ability to compete and dominate the market. In addition to strengthening the corporate structure, Dony emphasized that the aviation industry is a business that requires high accuracy and quick decision-making in every operational aspect so that the company's performance is maintained. "The industry that requires accuracy, which must be managed day by day, minute by minute, is the aviation industry. Once the plane flies, we can measure the profit or loss of one flight. Therefore, it is important to analyze each route and connectivity," said Dony.