Garuda Indonesia plans to buy at least 24 aircraft from a selection of aircraft manufacturers over next two years as part of the company’s long-term program to further boost both domestic and international flight services: as 11 A330s, 9 ATRs, three 777-300s and one 737MAX. The airline’s President Arif Wibowo said that the purchase of the 24 aircraft would be carried out from last month through to December 2017. The airline intends to expand flight services in response to State-owned Enterprises Minister Rini Soemarno’s recent call to increase its fleet to 450 aircraft from the current number of 168 within the next five years. That is quite some leap. Approximately 80% of aircraft will be leased while the other 20% will be sale and leasebacks, according to Garuda’s finance director, I Gusti Ngurah Askhara Danadiputra. He added that the proportion might change depending on the company’s financial condition three years ahead.
These aircraft are in addition to the 30 Boeing 787-9s and 30 737 MAX8s and 30 Airbus A350 XWB aircraft ordered recently.