The aircraft and flight licenses belonging to Pelita Air (IP, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) will transfer to Citilink (QG, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) under the latest merger plans made public this week by Indonesia's Deputy Minister of State-Owned Enterprises, Kartika Wirjoatmodjo.
"Pelita's license and aircraft will be transferred to Citilink," he told the Indonesian language Kompas outlet. However, the Pelita Air brand will not disappear. While part of Citilink, Wirjoatmodjo says Pelita will maintain its own brand identity.
Under this outcome, the majority state-owned Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk entity will operate three airlines - Garuda Indonesia, Citilink, and Pelita. Earlier this month, reporting on the proposed merger, ch-aviation cited the Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir saying the point of the merger was to improve operational and financial efficiencies at the airlines. There is also a political point to the merger. Thohir wants to increase the capacity his country's carriers offer, betting that increasing the supply of seats will put downward pressure on airfares, an outcome likely to prove popular among Indonesia's increasingly mobile population.
Pelita Air is a longstanding charter and cargo operator that started scheduled passenger ops in 2022. PT Pertamina, a state-owned oil and gas holding company, owns the airline. Its fleet of seven A320-200s, one ARJ85, one ATR42-500, one ATR72-500, and ATR72-500(F), fly to nine airports within Indonesia, and also maintain fly-in-fly-out and cargo services for Pertamina.
Citilink, the low-cost operator within the Garuda Indonesia stable, services 53 airports in seven countries with a fleet of 59 aircraft, including thirty-nine A320-200s, ten A320-200Ns, two (inactive) A330-900Ns, and eight ATR72-600s. Thohir has previously said Garuda Indonesia cannot buy out Pelita because they are both state entities, leaving a merger as the only practical alternative. Setting an ambitious timeline, the ministry hopes to push through the merger by the end of 2023.
