Fate of Garuda Indonesia's Grounded Boeing 737 Max Fleet
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31 October 2019 14:33 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Garuda Indonesia technical director Iwan Joeniarto revealed the current condition of its Boeing 737 Max 8 fleet that has been grounded following two separate crashes of Indonesia’s Lion Air and Ethiopian Air.
Iwan said that the aircraft is still undergoing prolonged maintenance that involves monthly inspections and three-monthly inspections. The engine bay is subjected to usual airplane maintenance at the PT GMF Aero-Asia hangar, a subsidiary of Garuda.
“Even though it isn’t flying anymore, we continue to conduct prolonged inspections, which is the same to any other airplanes that are grounded,” said Iwan when Tempo met him at Hotel Borobudur on Thursday, October 31.
Previously, the national flag carrier decided to ground its 737 Max after the US’ Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced globally in March that the type of airplane in question is not suitable for operations.
Garuda Indonesia has not been in direct communication with Boeing but, according to the technical director, the company understands the situation as Boeing would be overwhelmed by the fixes it needs to conduct on the 737 Max unit.
FRANCISCA CHRISTY ROSANA
