We will be handling [maintenance] for Sriwijaya Air Group’s fleets, including NAM Air. Hopefully, with the continuation of this agreement, it would improve the quality of Sriwijaya Air flights,– GMF AeroAsia president director Tazar Marta Kurniawan
JAKARTA - Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has agreed to hop back onboard domestic carrier Sriwijaya Air despite a recent management partnership dispute between the two airlines.
In November 2018, Garuda Indonesia, through its subsidiary Citilink, took over operations as well as financial management of Sriwijaya Air in a cooperation agreement.
But a rift between Garuda and Sriwijaya exacerbated problems ranging from safety to finance, forcing Sriwijaya - Indonesia’s third largest carrier - to halt operations for more than half of its fleet.
The kiss-and-make-up deal was brokered by a government enterprise ministry and will allow Sriwijaya to resume full operations, even though it has substantial debts to Garuda, as well as energy giant Pertamina, lender BNI, airport operator Angkasa Pura and Garuda’s aircraft maintenance company, GMF AeroAsia.
Sriwijaya turned around a 1.6 trillion rupiah (US$113m ) loss it booked last year to a profit in the first quarter of this year after it signed a management partnership agreement with Garuda in November.
However, Sriwijaya, established in 2003, ran into a dispute with Garuda in September, announcing it would remove Garuda logos from all Sriwijaya aircraft on “differences in services standards”.
GMF AeroAsia president director Tazar Marta Kurniawan said one of the immediate measures to be taken to support Sriwijaya would involve maintenance, repair and overhaul services.
“We will be handling [maintenance] for Sriwijaya Air Group’s fleets, including NAM Air. Hopefully, with the continuation of this agreement, it would improve the quality of Sriwijaya Air flights,” Tazar said.