TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Garuda Indonesia VP Corporate Secretary Ikhsan Rosan clarified the reason why its latest delivery of Airbus A300-900 Neo was taken directly to the air carrier’s hangar 4, or Garuda Maintenance Facility (GMF), as the aircraft landed at Soekarno-Hatta Airport.

Ikhsan asserts that the GMF area is not an exclusive area, especially after the discovery of contrabands smuggled onboard the newly-delivered plane by Soekarno-Hatta’s customs officers. The GMF area, he asserts, is also monitored by authorities and adheres to Custom’s rules.

“It was a ceremonial procession in greeting a new airplane,” said Ikhsan to Tempo on Tuesday, December 3. “GMF is not an exclusive area.”

He added that Garuda’s latest Airbus was taken to the GMF hangar under the approval of customs and immigration and that their plans have notified about the plan far before the Airbus unit arrived.

Soekarno-Hatta Airport’s customs and excise Head, Finari Manan, said that Garuda Indonesia’s Airbus destination was true to the carrier’s permit. “The Landing at the GMF hangar was specially done as a ceremony of the latest airplane type which Garuda has never operated before,” said Finari.

Reported earlier, Soekarno-Hatta Airport customs personnel discovered 18 compartments in Garuda’s cargo hold that were traced back to two of its passengers, identified as SAW and LS, with 15 compartments filled with Harley Davidson parts under SAW’s name while the other three had Brompton parts and accessories were owned by LS.

JONIANSYAH (CONTRIBUTOR)