Merpati Airlines grounds all flights
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Indonesia’s Merpati Nusantara Airlines has grounded all its flights, as it struggles with huge debts.
The Antara news agency reports that the state-run carrier has temporarily suspended its operations while it attempts to restructure its business.
“Merpati has come to the point where it can no longer operate as it should,” Merpati’s operational director, Captain Daryanto was quoted saying.
Merpati’s creditors have been putting the airline under increasing pressure recently, to settle its accounts. State oil company Pertamina has now stopped supplying fuel to Merpati until it pays its debt of around IDR165 billion (US$13.5 million). Other companies owned money include Indonesia’s airport operators and banks, with total debts estimated at around IDR6.7 trillion.
The airline’s pilots also recently staged a one-day strike in protest at unpaid salaries.
On Tuesday, Indonesia’s state enterprises minister, Dahlan Iskan, confirmed the grounding but said it was “only for the time being”.
“We hope consolidation will have been completed at the end of March at the latest,” Dahlan said.
But this appears at odds with the country’s Transportation Ministry, which has demanded an explanation for the grounding.
“We want to know the reason behind this decision and which routes will not be serviced anymore,” the ministry’s director for air transportation, Djoko Murjatmodjo, was quoted saying by Antara.
Merpati was established in 1962, initially to connect more remote areas of the Indonesian archipelago. Prior to its grounding it served approximately 50 destinations in Indonesia and East Timor.
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