Garuda Indonesia is about to double its order for Boeing 737-800s plus order ten Boeing 777-200ERs and firm up a commitment for Boeing 787s and this is all in addition to the 777-200ERs and 737s it is seeking to lease.
The carrier’s executive VP of operations, Ari Sapari, says at next week’s Singapore Airshow the carrier will be firming up options for 25 737-800s, increasing its total order to 50 737-800s. The airshow starts 19 February.
Garuda’s initial order for 25 737-800s, with options for 25 more, was signed early last year and Sapari says the first aircraft from this initial order is to be delivered in May 2009 and that year a total of five 737-800s will be delivered.
He also says the carrier will sign a firm order for ten 777-200ERs and that this order represents the resurrection of an earlier 777 deal that involved an order for six 777-200ERs with options for four more.
In the 1990s the carrier signed a firm order for six 777-200ERs but then the 1997 Asian financial crisis led it to defer this indefinitely.
Sapari also says at next week’s airshow the airline will firm up a commitment for 787s and hopes first deliveries can occur in 2013.
In September 2005 the carrier signed an agreement for ten 787-8s but this agreement stopped short of being a firm order.
Sapari’s colleague at Garuda, Yudhi Fadjari, who is tasked with helping source aircraft for lease, says the first Garuda 787 might end up being delivered later than 2013 because of Boeing’s recently announced delay in the programme.
He also says the number of 787-8s to be ordered is still subject to approval by Indonesia’s ministry of state-owned enterprises but the ministry will make its decision before the signing in Singapore.
Fadjari adds, Indonesia’s minister for state owned enterprises, the minister for transportation and Garuda president Emirsyah Satar will be at the signing ceremony.
While Garuda is planning to order aircraft so it can expand aggressively from 2009 onwards, in the more immediate term it plans to expand by getting aircraft on lease.
Fadjari says the carrier is seeking to lease Boeing 737-300/400s, Boeing 737-800s and Boeing 777-200ERs.
“This year we would like up to five units of 737-300/400s, preferably 400s because it has more capacity,” says Fadjari, adding that it wants three to five year dry leases.
It also wants to dry lease as many 737-800s as it can get and for these newer aircraft to be on seven to eight year leases.
And it is seeking five to seven year dry-leases on five 777-200ERs for delivery in 2009, says Fadjari.
Source: flightglobal.com's sister premium news service Air Transport Intelligence news
Source: FlightGlobal.com
