Jakarta (ANTARA) - The United Garuda Indonesia which coordinates three labor unions within this national flag carrier has sought support from Minister of State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) Erick Thohir to help save the airline's debt restructuring, and steer it out of financial difficulties.
"Currently, Garuda Indonesia is reeling from two key issues that must elicit the attention of decision makers or stakeholders," Union Coordinator of the United Garuda Indonesia Tomy Tampatty noted in a press statement that ANTARA received here Tuesday.
The three labor unions that the United Garuda Indonesia coordinates comprise the Garuda Indonesia Labor Union (Sekarga), Garuda Pilot Association (APG), and Garuda Indonesia Cabin Crew Union (Ikagi).
Tampatty noted that the first area of concern entailed the financial problems, particularly large debts, coupled with decreasing operational performance due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the coordinator, the second issue pertained to business fundamentals that had to be restructured and managed optimally in order to optimize revenue.
Hence, he highlighted the need for people with a thorough understanding of the aviation business.
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Tampatty later drew attention to the management’s blunder of assuming that Garuda Indonesia's problems were only financial, including debt restructuring as its main pillar.
He pointed out that the management had failed to focus on fundamental business issues to generate profits, such as in terms of choosing the right production equipment, right route to fly, and using the people, process, technology methodology to make the business profitable.
"In future, we also need to develop this aviation and tourism ecosystem through a strategy to survive and grow by forging strong collaboration and synergy among state-owned enterprises, private sector, MSMEs, and the government and all stakeholders," Tampatty affirmed.
The coordinator is sanguine that SOEs Minister Thohir would intervene to salvage Garuda Indonesia, especially in the debt restructuring process.
For the stakeholders' meeting (RUPS) on Aug 13, Tampatty requested Minister Thohir to skip the debt postponement petition (PKPU) section.
"I am optimistic that the minister would take the best decision to maintain the continuity of Garuda Indonesia," Tampatty noted.
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