Dahlan Iskan: Airport Tax Contributes to Losses of Garuda
12 September 2014 08:36 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The State Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said the airport tax in Garuda Indonesia ticket purchasing also contributes to the company’s losses. The policy was initially enacted in order to prevent Garudan Indonesia passengers from paying airport tax. However, the policy has caused losses for Garuda.
Merging airport tax and ticket has made passengers to think that Garuda Indonesia’s ticket price is too expensive. As a result, many Garuda potential passengers shift to other airlines.
Dahlan has asked Garuda to do some savings in order to reduce losses at least by half. The savings can be done by regulating the altitude of aircraft and saving avtur.
In the first half of 2014, Garuda recorded losses of US$211.7 million or around Rp2.43 trillion. The losses were caused by several things such as poor world economic condition, fuel price hike and rupiah exchange rate depreciation up to 20 percent. All those things affect the operational costs. So far, around 75 percent of Garuda’s operational costs are in US dollar.
An operational income in the first half of 2014 was US$1.73 billion or around Rp19.89 trillion, increased by 0.7 percent from the same period last year.
GANGSAR PARIKESIT
