Merpati will not go down: President director

The president director of state-owned PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines waved off the notion that his ailing company is going bankrupt.

Sardjono Jhony Tjitrokusumo on Thursday cited a number of virtues owned by his company such as reliable human resources, and strong commitments of commissioners and the government through the latter’s State Asset Management Company (PPA).

“So Merpati will not go bankrupt. What we need now is an additional working capital of Rp 600 billion [US$67.8 million],” he said as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

Jhony said that the capital would be used to buy 13 new planes, thus taking the total number of aircrafts owned to 23.

Merpati is currently one of the 14 state-owned companies undergoing PPA’s restructurization program.

The company currently has Rp 1.9 trillion in accumulated debt. Most of the creditors are also state companies, such as state oil and gas company Pertamina and airport operator Angkasa Pura.

Merpati is targeting Rp 40 billion in operational profit this year, a sharp increase from last year’s Rp 243 million.