The new chief executive of Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) says the country's president has told him to return the state-owned carrier to profitability and expand its international network. A November 15 extraordinary board meeting named the acting CEO of Lion Air (JT, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), Wamildan Tsani Panjaitan, as Garuda's next boss, replacing Irfan Setiaputra.
In the wake of the announcement, Panjaitan said that the recently elected Indonesian president, Prabowo Subianto, had instructed him to turn around the airline's financial fortunes and rebuild its network. Garuda recently reported a net loss of USD29.6 million for the three months to September 30, 2024. It was the airline's third consecutive quarterly loss and follows a USD10 billion debt restructuring programme in 2022 that saw the carrier's fleet and network shrink.
Meanwhile, the country's minister for state-owned enterprises, Erick Thohir, has said that Garuda could become an aircraft aggregator and play a role supplying Indonesia's other carriers with aircraft. There is particular demand for aircraft during the Hajj. "Who knows, we might be able to become an aggregator between Garuda and all private airlines," he said last week.
Thohir is attempting to shepherd through a merger involving Garuda subsidiary Citilink (QG, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) and the scheduled passenger operations of Pelita Air (IP, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), also ultimately majority-owned by the Indonesian government.
Giving Panjaitan's growth plans an early shot in the arm, Garuda is expecting four additional aircraft by the end of the year, Jakarta's Tempo news outlet reports, with the first due to arrive from Lebanon by the end of the month. Before he was shown the exit door, Setiaputra said the leased aircraft were sourced from Lebanon and a storage facility at Alice Springs.
ch-aviation has contacted Garuda Indonesia for further information.
