Garuda Indonesia mulls buying 20 Airbus planes |
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Thu, 06 Sep 2007 06:36
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JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) - Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is considering buying 20 Airbus A320 aircraft worth about 1.3 billion dollars, airline director Ari Sapari said Thursday.'It is still just a discussion. We still need some evaluation,' Sapari said. He said negotiations with Airbus have yet to begin.He said the purchase of the 20 planes would be 'in line with Garuda's plan to develop our operations.'Late last year, Garuda signed a contract to purchase 25 Boeing 737-800 NG aircraft, which are expected to be delivered in stages from May 2009 to February 2012. The airline is also awaiting delivery of three of the nine Airbus A330-300s it has on order.Garuda Indonesia has been facing fierce competition from regional and low-cost carriers and has been struggling to pay off its debts.In 2006 its net loss narrowed to 197 billion rupiah from 688.47 billion rupiah in 2005.But Garuda returned to the black in the first half of 2007, reporting a 148 billion rupiah net profitamid rising passenger numbers and higher air fares.The carrier's safety record has been tarnished recently, with one of its planes crash-landing in March at the airport in the central Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. It burst into flames, killing 21 people.The US has advised its citizens against flying on any Indonesian airlines in the wake of the crash, while the EU has banned all Indonesian carriers, including Garuda, from its airspace.(1 US dollar = 9,391 rupiah)afp/jm/mszr/jm/msCOPYRIGHTCopyright AFX News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.The copying, republication or redistribution of AFX News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AFX News.
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Garuda Indonesia to buy 20 Airbus jets for 1.3 bln dollars - report 