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For itchy young pilots out there... DONT BOTHER APPLYING TO GARUDA AND CITILINK... THEY ONLY ACCEPT LOCAL PILOTS...
Garuda Indonesia’s low-cost unit, Citilink, expects to almost triple its sales in 2012 as it adds new planes and benefits from Indonesia’s economic growth, an adviser with the company said.
“We’re still optimistic on 2012 being a good year,” Con Korfiatis, an adviser to Citilink’s board of directors, said in an interview in Jakarta on Monday. He didn’t give a precise forecast for revenue, but passenger numbers may more than double to as much as four million, he said.
The carrier plans to receive 11 new Airbus planes next year, roughly doubling its fleet, as it works to add about four new domestic cities to its network.
Lion Air, Indonesia’s biggest budget carrier, also signed a provisional deal for a record 230 Boeing 737 aircraft last month because of rising travel in the world’s fourth-most populous country.
Citilink and Lion Air’s expansion plans are creating competition for pilots and causing congestion at the nation’s airports, Korfiatis said. Citilink will partly meet its need for cabin crew by working with parent Garuda, which has a training program, he said.
“We are pretty confident we can get pilots for those 11 aircraft,” he said.
And airport bottlenecks may ease, helped by government investment plans, the Citilink adviser added.
Indonesia may spend at least Rp 3 trillion ($330 million) on its airports next year, Herry Bakti Gumay, director general of aviation at the Transportation Ministry, said on Tuesday.
The Indonesian economy will likely expand 6.3 percent in the period, according to International Monetary Fund data.
Garuda is planning to make Citilink a separate but fully owned company, with its own operating license. Th is would help pare costs and possibly pave the way for an initial public offering. The move should be completed by the end of March, Korfiatis said.
Shares of state-owned Garuda, the nation’s biggest airline, closed unchanged at Rp 415 in Jakarta on Wednesday. The stock h as tumbled 45 percent from the price at its February IPO.
Citilink’s sales in the first nine month of this year were almost double the full-year tally for 2010, Garuda’s chief financial officer, Elisa Lumbantoruan, said in a text message on Tuesday. He declined to elaborate.
The unit may account for 30 percent of Garuda’s sales by 2015, the CFO said earlier this year. Garuda ordered 25 A320s in June to support Citilink’s growth.
Jakarta Globe 7/12.2011