Garuda to take over Merpati's routes and pilots

JAKARTA. Publicly listed flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia (GIAA) plans to take over a number of routes from state owned debt ridden airline PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines (Merpati) in the near future as well as recruiting the airline's pilots.

Garuda president director Emirsyah Satar said the carrier aimed to operate Merpati's routes in Sumbawa Besar, West Nusa Tenggara and North Sumatera.

Emirsyah, however, said that the airline would not operate Merpati's aircraft in those routes.

"We are not going to use aircraft [in the routes] without Federal Aviation Administration certification," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday during a state run firms meeting at the State Owned Ministry office as quoted bykontan.co.id.

He said that Garuda would operate its brand new French Italian Avions de Transport Regional ATR 72-600 planes for the new routes.

With regards to recruiting Merpati's pilots, he said that both Garuda's and Merpati's operational directors have discussed the issue. (nfo)