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iling state-owned PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines (Merpati) will forge closer cooperation with its sister air carrier Garuda Indonesia to help strengthen its business, the airline’s top executive said.

Newly appointed president director Rudy Setyopurnomo said in Jakarta last week Merpati would cooperate in a wide range of activities with Garuda, including in flight services, aircraft maintenance facilities and human resource development.

“We will not compete with Garuda anymore; we will work together with them to help improve Merpati’s business as well as the country’s domestic network. That is our strategy,” Rudy told The Jakarta Post and two other new papers on Friday.

He said that they would play their part as Garuda’s feeder, enabling passengers to go to remote or tourism destinations that were not flown by Garuda. “This will benefit the passengers and the business itself. We will start this [feeder] next month,” he said. In the maintenance facility business, he said that Merpati Maintenance Facility (MMF) will work on projects that cannot be handled by the Garuda Maintenance Facility (GMF), AeroAsia.

“MMF has just recently received the European Aviation Safety Association certificate. It means that we are able to fix aircraft,” he said.

In human resources cooperation, he said that Merpati pilots, who usually fly propeller-powered aircraft, will be given chance to fly Garuda’s jets after they receive training.

He also said that Garuda Indonesia planned to give them turbo-propeller aircraft ATR 72-500 in the near future to help their role as a feeder. However, he refused to comment on how many ATRs they would receive and when the aircraft would be delivered.

Both Garuda and Merpati are owned by the government. While Garuda is regarded as a national flag carrier serving major domestic and international routes, Merpati focuses its operations on domestic routes, especially in eastern parts of Indonesia.

In a separate interview, Garuda’s marketing director Elisa Lumbantoruan welcomed joint cooperation with Merpati.

“We are open to any collaboration with Merpati,” Elisa said in a text message. Rudy said that he was optimistic this strategy will help Merpati grow. (nfo)