JAKARTA — PT Aviasi Pariwisata Indonesia (Persero), also known as Injourney, a state-owned holding company in aviation and tourism, still does not have a flight operator sub-holding. In the aviation industry, only PT Angkasa Pura (AP) I and II are currently under the umbrella of Injourney.
Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir previously revealed his plan to merge Pelita Air into Garuda Indonesia. Currently, Indonesia has the state-owned airline Garuda Indonesia, Citilink, and Pelita Air. However, Pelita Air is still a subsidiary of PT Pertamina (Persero).
However, it turns out there is a possibility that Pelita Air will not merge with Garuda Indonesia Group in the end. The discussions are narrowing down to the idea that the three airlines will merge under the sub-holding company, Injourney, which will focus on the national aviation industry.
“So Pelita Air will be under Injourney in the future. So all of them (Garuda Indonesia, Citilink, and Pelita Air) will be under the umbrella of Injourney,” said Citilink’s CEO Dewa Rai on Thursday (2/11/2023).
Dewa explained that the merger will take place within Injourney’s aviation holding. Currently, Injourney has several sub-holdings including airports, airlines, destinations, and others.
“All airlines under this state-owned enterprise will be merged under the aviation sub-holding,” Dewa said.
Dewa further explained that the three airlines will continue to operate according to their respective market segments. Garuda Indonesia will remain in the full-service market segment, Pelita Air in the medium-service segment, and Citilink in the low-cost carrier segment.
“The concern of the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises is how these three brands can truly determine their respective market segments. It is expected to cover all market segments,” Dewa said.
Dewa stated that the Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises is targeting the completion of the merger process by the end of this year or the first quarter of 2024. The inclusion of Garuda Indonesia Group into Injourney is currently still in progress.
“We, as the airline, fully support this. Now the discussions are very serious at the Injourney and Ministry of State-Owned Enterprises levels. Hopefully, it will be completed within the established timeline,” Dewa said.
Meanwhile, Garuda Indonesia’s CEO, Irfan Setiaputra, confirmed that the merger process is still ongoing. Therefore, Irfan cannot speak much about the important stages of the merger between Pelita Air, Citilink, and Garuda Indonesia under Injourney.
Irfan said that the discussions have not yet reached the finalization stage. “This is still in the discussion phase and the form it will take is still under consideration. Hopefully, it can be completed within a not-too-long timeframe or by the end of this year,” Irfan said.
Previously, Minister of State-Owned Enterprises Erick Thohir revealed the plan to merge Pelita Air with Garuda Indonesia in response to the condition of the aviation industry in the country. As an illustration, Erick stated that the United States, with a population of 303 million, has 7,200 aircraft, while Indonesia, with a population of 280 million, only has about 500 aircraft.
“It should be noted that we are an archipelagic country, so if 10 percent (of the United States’ aircraft) means we should have 720 aircraft. Currently, the total number of aircraft in Indonesia is around 500, and it has not returned to the pre-Covid-19 level,” Erick said during a working meeting with the DPR Commission VI in the DPR Building, Jakarta, on Thursday (31/8/2023).
Erick stated that Pelita Air’s presence at that time was a precautionary measure in case the restructuring of Garuda Indonesia failed. Erick said that Pelita Air currently only has 12 aircraft and is encouraged to increase to 20 aircraft.
Meanwhile, Garuda currently has 60 aircraft, and Citilink has 50 aircraft. The total number of state-owned airlines, when merged, would only be 140 aircraft, which is still lower than the pre-pandemic condition of 170 aircraft or 35 percent of the total aircraft in Indonesia, with the remaining 65 percent owned by private companies.
“This means that even if we merge, we still only have 35 percent
