Garuda to resume CitiLink operation by mid-year
Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will resume the operation of its low-cost carrier (LCC) unit Citilink in June or July which was stopped in January, director for strategy and information tehcnology Elisa Lumban Toruan said Friday.
“CitiLink as Garuda’s business unit will seriously perform as an LCC player without disregarding flight safety,” she said.
“We halted the operation temporarily to formulate the most appropriate business strategy for CitiLink.”
CitiLink operation was halted on Jan. 15 after suffering losses in the past three years. Earlier, the unit managed to bring profits after being established in 2001.
Elisa said Garuda was determined to develop CitiLink as a leading domestic LCC.
The airline plans to use Boeing 737-300 and expects the arrival of five aircraft this year with an expected fleet of 25 airplanes “in three or five years depending on market dynamics,” said Elisa.
Contacted separately, air transportation director at Transportation’s air transportation directorate general Tri Sunoko said all CitiLink’s route licenses had been revoked since the unit stopped operation.
“Regulation has it that if a route is not served in 21 consecutive days than the license is automatically revoked,” he said.
Citilink has to submit new license request if it wants to fly again. The government will not grant the license especially in saturated routes such as those to Denpasar, Medan and Surabaya.
Garuda has yet to spin off CitiLink although the management has several times stated that it would do so.
Source: The Jakarta Post
Add comment March 25th, 2008