TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State air carrier Garuda Indonesia has added three aircraft to its active fleet after the Central Jakarta District Court declared the company free from bankruptcy. Garuda president director Irfan Setiaputra said the company will operate Boeing 737-800 NG that were previously relocated by lessors.

"The increase in flight frequency is a projection of our optimism for a positive performance outlook that will continue to be improved in the future,” said Irfan in a statement on July 22, “Especially through aligning the production equipment capacity base with market demand whose growth is increasingly consistent amid the pandemic handling."

Garuda’s fleet was initially reduced during the Covid-19 pandemic after the company found no other way to financially save themselves other than reducing flight routes and frequencies. Garuda found itself in a position to restructure the company and return aircraft to lessors.

Most recently, Garuda only operated 33 serviceable airplanes from a total of 142 planes. The company plans to increase that number to 70 until the year 2023.

In line with that, Garuda Indonesia plans to increase the number of flight frequencies to 32 percent in August. The weekly frequency, which in July was only 650 flights, will be increased to 850 flights next month.

FRANSISCA CHRISTY ROSANA

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