5 August 2007 , Habib Shaikh
JEDDAH — Garuda Indonesia will not be banned from flying into Saudi Arabia, according to official sources in Jakarta.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia was considering a ban on the airline following a similar ban enforced by the European Union.
The US Federal Aviation Authority had decided in April to downgrade Indonesia’s safety rating that amounted to a de facto ban. No Indonesian carrier currently flies to either Europe or the United States.
The ban came in the wake of two major air disasters in the Asian archipelago since the beginning of the year. The Kingdom put off the ban plan pending the visit of a team of experts to Jakarta for a review and inspection of its facilities and operations.
A six-member team of the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) of Saudi Arabia had inspected all of Garuda’s facilities, operations and training centres and expressed satisfaction over the safety standards.
The Saudi team comprised Capt. Berenji, and was accompanied by Babang Sudaryono, Jeddah-based communication attache at the Consulate General of Indonesia.
“Saudi Arabia will not ban or restrict Garuda from flying to that country, whether regular or Haj flights,” Indonesian Transportation Minister Jusman Syafii Djamal told the media in Jakarta on Friday. Garuda operates eight flights a week from Jakarta to Jeddah, of which three are via Riyadh. It has planned up to 60 extra flights between June and September to transport Umrah pilgrims.
The carrier is planning to fly 210,000 Haj pilgrims this year. After years in the red, Garuda has posted a net profit of $15.93 million in the first half of this year. According to Garuda Executive Vice President Agus Priyanto, the airline’s revenues are expected to further increase in the second half as more passengers will fly during the year-end holiday season.
Thursday, August 9, 2007
No ban on Garuda flights to Saudi (Khaleej Time Online)
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Garuda Indonesia Posts 1H Net Profit, Garuda Indonesia Reports Half-Year Net Profit of $15.898 Million
August 2/2007
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- National carrier Garuda Indonesia said Thursday it booked a half-year net profit of US$15.898 million (euro11.6 million), swinging from a US$38.786 million (euro28.3 million) loss a year earlier.ADVERTISEMENT Chief Executive Emirsyah Satar said Garuda's efforts to improve its performance, such as restructuring routes, contributed to its financial turnaround.
Passenger numbers grew 8 percent to 4.3 million during the January-June period from a year earlier, Satar said.
He said Garuda's load factor improved to 76 percent from 70 percent last year, while the number of revenue-generating domestic routes increased to 26 from only seven last year.
Meanwhile, Satar said the airline was optimistic that it would not be banned from flying to Saudi Arabia.
A team from the Saudi civil aviation authority is in Indonesia to verify Garuda's safety standards, following the European Commission's recent decision to ban all Indonesian commercial carriers from flying to the region on safety grounds.
Saudi Arabia uses the E.U.'s aviation policy as a reference but has not banned Indonesian airlines yet.
"I have met with them and they said that they are satisfied," Satar said. "Garuda is judged to have met international aviation standards."
The state-owned Garuda is the only local airliner that flies to Saudi Arabia, carrying about 200,000 Muslims every year to that country for the Haj pilgrimage.
The company has appealed to the E.U. to lift the ban, claiming the airline complies with international aviation safety standards.
Garuda lifted by Saudi Arabian all-clear (The Financial Times)
Published: August 2 2007 17:18 Last updated: August 2 2007 17:18
Garuda Indonesia, the national carrier, on Thursday welcomed a decision by Saudi Arabia not to adopt a European Union ban on Indonesian airlines and said this year would see its first profit since 2003.
The EU last month banned all Indonesian airlines from flying to its 27 member countries, citing poor airline safety and regulatory supervision standards following two crashes. Saudi Arabia usually follows EU transport commission rulings but, after Indonesian lobbying, decided to investigate first.
Jusman Djamal, Indonesia’s transport minister, on Thursday said an audit team from Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation had declared Garuda fit to fly to the kingdom.
Garuda does not fly to Europe, so is not directly affected by the EU move, but it flies 300,000 people to Saudi Arabia each year.
The airline on Thursday announced a first-half net profit of Rp148bn ($16m) compared with a loss of Rp361bn in the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased to $570m from $494m, while the load factor rose to 76 per cent from 70 per cent and the revenue per seat per kilometre flown rose 8 per cent to 7.2 US cents.
Garuda lost Rp800bn in 2004, Rp688bn in 2005 and Rp197bn in 2006. Mr Emirsyah insisted this year’s figure would be a profit.
The airline has debts of $640m and it has failed to reach a restructuring agreement with European export credit agencies, its large creditors.
Alex Maneklaran, finance director, said he hoped an agreement would be struck this year. Garuda also intended to sell several non-core assets such as buildings and land as part of its cost-cutting programme, he said.
The Indonesian government, which owns Garuda, has promised to inject Rp1,000bn to prop up the company. It has disbursed half of that but Mr Maneklaran said the money had been allocated to debt refinancing.
This year the government said it would sell up to 49 per cent of the company but that has been postponed until the debts have been refinanced.
