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Friday, February 22, 2013

Garuda to start building fourth GMF hangar next week

PT GMF AeroAsia, a subsidiary of national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia, is set to begin construction on its fourth hangar in Cengkareng, Banten, on Jan. 30, with investment of US$50 million, to keep up with the airline’s expanding fleet.

The new hangar is expected to enable the company to repair and overhaul more aircraft, helping the firm increase its revenue by 20 percent to $252 million this year. 

“The fourth hangar will ensure that we keep pace with growing demand from our customers, both domestic and international carriers, and deliver the best service to enhance aviation safety in the country,” GMF president director Richard Budihadianto told The Jakarta Post. 

The Garuda Group alone, for instance, will take delivery of 34 aircraft throughout 2013. The aircraft will be among the new planes of parent company Garuda Indonesia and budget carrier Citilink Indonesia.

Garuda and Citilink will operate 24 and 15 new aircraft, respectively.

Garuda’s new aircraft will comprise four Boeing 777-300 Extended Range (ER); 10 B737-800 Next Generation (NG); two Airbus 330-200s; one A330-300; and seven Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen, while Citilink will take delivery of 10 A320s and five Avions de Transport Regional ATR 72-600s.

Besides the Garuda Group, Lion Air, Sriwijaya Air and Mandala Air also use GMF’s hangars to maintain and repair their aircraft. 

As for international airlines, Zimbabwe’s Avient Aviation and Afghanistan’s KAM Air are going to use GMF facilities this year. 

“We are going to have more new customers this year,” he said. 

The new Hangar 4 would be constructed on 18,000 square meters of land and would be equipped with a multipurpose docking platform for C-checks or heavy maintenance of narrow-body aircraft, such as the B737 and A320 family, he said.

The hangar will be able to house up to 16 narrow-body aircraft at one time.

“The construction will take approximately one year to complete and we expect it to be operational at the end of 2013,” he said.

As of today, GMF’s existing three hangars can accommodate up to 29 aircraft.

In addition, the company plans to build a fifth hangar, which is aimed to house four wide-body aircraft, including the B747 and A330 series, as soon as it completes the fourth one. 

The fifth hangar is projected to commence commercial operations in 2015.

GMF has also finished its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facilities for the sub-100 Bombardier jet in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

In the future, it planned to set up more Bombardier MRO facilities in Garuda’s regional hubs: Balikpapan, East Kalimantan; Biak, West Papua; Denpasar, Bali, and Medan, North Sumatra, where the Canadian aircraft were based, he added. 

Garuda signed a contract to purchase 18 Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen airplanes at the Singapore Airshow in February last year with an option to buy an additional 18. This year, the airline will operate five jets from its Makassar hub. 

GMF AeroAsia has facilities to conduct A-Check (light maintenance) to D-Check (the most comprehensive aircraft checks), in Cengkareng, west of Jakarta, and has been certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), giving it a competitive advantage as an MRO company.


The Jakarta Post

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