Starting today, privately owned Batavia Air will fully halt operations
following a Central Jakarta Commercial Court ruling that declared the carrier
bankrupt for failing to pay for aircraft it had leased.
“The management [of Batavia Air]
accepts the court’s decision and will stop operations starting on January 31,”
Batavia Air lawyer Raden Catur Wibowo said in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The International Lease Finance
Corporation (ILFC) filed a bankruptcy petition against the carrier after it had
failed to pay US$4.68 million for two leased Airbus A330s for three years.
“In the company’s plan, the
aircraft were supposed to be used to transport Indonesian pilgrims during the
annual haj season. But, the airline was not given slots [by the regulator] to
fly to Mecca,” Catur explained.
Both parties had tried to settle
the problems, but they failed to find a solution that would have been
beneficial for either party.
Based on the 2004 Bankruptcy Law
and the court ruling, the company is now being handled by four trustees: Andrea
Renhard Sirait, Turman Panggabean, Permata Daulay and Elba Sukmahadi.
In addition, however, Catur said
that Batavia had been given the right to appeal within eight days. The airline
is still considering whether or not to appeal.
According to the Transportation
Ministry, Batavia Air commenced its first operations in the country back in
2002.
The carrier continued to grow
from year to year until it operated 33 aircraft, providing service to 64
destinations, including Singapore, Dili, Riyadh, Kuching and Guangzhou, by the
end of 2011.
But the company reduced its
network to 44 destinations in mid-2012 in a bid to improve business.
“Since this issue had erupted in
the media, many lessors had taken back aircraft that Batavia operated. Today,
we only have 13 airplanes,” Catur said.
Separately, the Transportation
Ministry’s air transportation director general, Herry Bhakti Gumay, said that
the contingency plan is set to be implemented starting Thursday to anticipate
passengers who already purchased Batavia Air tickets.
“Mandala Air is the first airline
that has shown its commitment to help transport Batavia passengers. We will be
giving Mandala a route permit so that it can carry the passengers on Batavia’s
routes,” Herry said in a press conference.
He said that passengers should
not incur any additional costs to alternatively fly with Mandala.
He urged every domestic airline
to help transport Batavia passengers and had personally called Lion Air and
Sriwijaya Air.
He also said that he had talked
to Indonesian Airline Ticketing Association (Astindo) and the association has
stopped selling Batavia tickets.
Regarding travel agents that have
deposited money to Batavia Air for upcoming travels, the trustees will make the
decision on how to solve the problem. In October, the planned acquisition of PT
Metro Batavia, the owner of Batavia Air, by Malaysian based low-cost carrier
AirAsia Berhad and its Indonesian partner PT Fersindo Nusaperkasa, was
officially called off.
In a statement sent to the media,
AirAsia Berhad said that the airline had to cancel its plans, as the deal
“posed many risks” and “might have prompted concerns” among the Malaysian-based
company’s shareholders.
Nurfika Osman
The Jakarta Post
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