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Chartered presidential plane only for long-haul flights
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung rebuffed claims that the government was buying a new presidential aircraft, saying that it was chartered for Jokowi’s planned visit to the US, and that such a move was made to further drive down costs and cut short travel time.
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A picture circulated recently on social media showing one of Garuda’s Boeing 777-300ER sporting the red and white presidential livery. The picture prompted speculation that President Jokowi would fly in a new presidential aircraft.
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viation experts commended the government’s decision to charter a wide-body aircraft from flag carrier Garuda Indonesia as a presidential aircraft for long-haul flights considering that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is not known to frequently visit foreign countries that require long-range aircraft.
Currently the presidential aircraft is a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) 2 which is based on a Boeing 737-800 commercial aircraft, and is currently undergoing routine maintenance.
A picture circulated recently on social media showing one of Garuda’s Boeing 777-300ER sporting the red and white presidential livery. The picture prompted speculation that President Jokowi would fly in a new presidential aircraft.
“The [Boeing 737-800] airplane could only fly for five to six hours, covering a distance similar to a Jakarta to Hong Kong commercial flight. A 14-hour flight from Jakarta to the United States would require two stopovers for refueling [if using the presidential aircraft],” Arista Atmadjati, the CEO of Arista Indonesia Aviation Center, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
“There are fees [incurred] in every transit such as landing fees, parking fees, navigation fees […] which makes it costly to fly long-haul flights [with a Boeing 737].”
Such inconveniences would be easily removed if the presidential entourage flew on a 777-300ER, which is currently used by Garuda on the Jakarta-Amsterdam route, Arista added.
Jokowi was scheduled to attend the US-ASEAN Special Summit in Las Vegas. However, the summit, which was previously set to be held on March 14, was postponed over fears of a coronavirus outbreak.
