In 2015 and 2016, Garuda made profits, though just $78 million and $9 million, respectively. However, in 2017 and 2018 Garuda suffered losses of up to $200 million
By
Yohanes Mega Hendarto
·4 minutes read
Kompas
Garuda Indonesia was able to carry out a heavy overhaul of a Boeing 747 in 1990, after a special hangar was built. So far this has been done at the KLM workshop, Amsterdam.
Garuda Indonesia is now bogged down with debt. The condition currently plaguing Garuda did not occur overnight, and appears to be the result of past mistakes.
On closer scrutiny, the record of Garuda Indonesia’s profit loss has indeed fluctuated over the years, even to the point of unhealthiness. In 2012, Garuda booked US$111 million in profit, but in 2013, its total profit had dropped to just $11 million. In 2014, Garuda made losses of $369 million.
In 2015 and 2016, Garuda made profits, though just $78 million and $9 million, respectively. However, in 2017 and 2018 Garuda suffered losses of up to $200 million. The flag carrier also republished its 2018 financial statement after the Financial Services Authority (OJK) assessed it and found irregularities.
Interestingly, Garuda made a profit of $6.5 million (Rp 93.39 billion) in 2019, derived from as a result of renegotiating rental costs as a part of its efficiency program. Yet later, its condition reversed completely as a consequence of Covid-19.
It turns out that the pandemic was not the only source of the problem. Compiled from archival Kompas reports over the past two decades, Garuda was already in poor shape in June 2000. Based on a report from the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) that the Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) revealed at the time, the state incurred losses of up to $1 billion, or around Rp 8.5 trillion, as a result of collusion, corruption and nepotism (KKN) within Garuda Indonesia (Kompas, 7/6/2000).
Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro
Former Director of Engineering and Fleet Management of PT Garuda Indonesia, Hadinoto Soedigno left the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Building, Jakarta after attending an online trial with the agenda of listening to witness statements, Friday (30/4/2021).
Six years later, PT Garuda’s Corruption Control Committee reported four cases of alleged internal corruption to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). The biggest case was the alleged corruption as regards debts worth $1.4 million and Rp 74.9 billion in its cargo business. The other cases involved stagnation in the mutual fund of the Garuda Corporate Employees Foundation worth Rp 28 billion, the misappropriation of a total Rp 70 million in Garuda tickets in Denpasar and the alleged price mark-up in the procurement of an Airbus A330 aircraft (Kompas, 30/8/2006).
Sadly, the investigations of these cases were not published. Furthermore, another major case emerged at around the same time about Gayus Tambunan, who fled the country. There were also the hunt for Nunun Nurbaeti, a suspect in a bribery case in the Bank Indonesia election for Senior Deputy Governor and the corruption case involving the Athletes Village.
Garuda was deemed as committed to the principle of good corporate governance, thus giving some hope to Garuda free itself from the KKN issues that had plagued it in the past.
In 2007-2015, Garuda flew relatively high without any corruption cases. Subsequently, the KPK granted Garuda the award for State-Owned Enterprise with the Best Graft Control in both 2014 and 2015. Garuda was deemed as committed to the principle of good corporate governance, thus giving some hope to Garuda free itself from the KKN issues that had plagued it in the past.
Kompas/Wawan H Prabowo
Pesawat Garuda Indonesia bersiap mendarat di runway atau landasan pacu ke-3 Bandara Internasional Soekarno-Hatta, Tangerang, Banten, yang baru saja diresmikan oleh Presiden Joko Widodo, Kamis (23/1/20). Dengan adanya runway ke-3 yang berukuran 3000 x 60 meter ini, pergerakan pesawat di Bandara Soetta bisa meningkat dari semula 81 pergerakan pesawat per jam menjadi 114 pergerakan pesawat per jam baik lepas landas (take off) maupun pendaratan (landing).
Hardly had it won the award when Garuda was hit by a storm in early January 2017. Garuda’s course turned into a fiasco when the KPK named Emirsyah Satar, a former president director of PT Garuda Indonesia, as a corruption suspect. On 8 May 2021, Emirsyah was sentenced to eight years in prison.
The public will not forget the smuggling case involving 15 crates containing used spare parts for Harley-Davidson motorcycles and three other boxes containing two new Brompton bicycles. The goods were flown from France on an Airbus A330-900neo aircraft operated by Garuda Indonesia (Kompas, 17 Nov. 2019).
This series of cases sufficiently illustrate Garuda’s tattered wings. The condition has certainly been worsened by the pandemic, which also dealt a blow to the global airline industry.
The provisional suspension of debt repayment obligation that was recently issued to Garuda is part of an initial debt restructuring effort. It is the preliminary step before commencing eight other options that were once offered by State-Owned Enterprises central expert staffer Paul Sutaryono. The next step is for the government to inject state capital participation (PMN) because in any case, Garuda is the face of the national carrier in the eyes of the world.
Eventually, saving Garuda is an issue of the profit-loss balance sheet as well as nationalism. Garuda possesses valuable capital that no other local airline company has, which is its identity as the nation’s flag carrier.
Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro
Former President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar listens to the indictment read by the KPK Public Prosecutor in a trial at the Corruption Court, Jakarta, Monday (30/12/2019).
Garuda has existed since the early days of the struggle for Indonesian independence. The Garuda name was given by Bung Karno (Sukarno) to the DC-3 belonging to KLM Interinsulair as registered under the PK-DPD, which made its maiden flight on 28 Dec. 1949 from Yogyakarta to Jakarta. It was also Bung Karno who was a special passenger aboard that DC-3 to attend his inauguration ceremony as the first President of the Republic of the United States of Indonesia (RIS).
