Garuda Indonesia early terminates B737 leases

Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) will return two of its B737-800s to one of its lessors before the period of their lease ends, as part of its attempts to “adjust to the new normal” and improve its finances, the airline revealed in a statement sent to local media on June 6. Garuda issued the statement one working day after Kartika Wirjoatmodjo, Indonesia’s deputy minister of state-owned enterprises, told a parliamentary hearing that the embattled flag carrier would seek a suspension of debt payments from lessors and other creditors to avoid bankruptcy. The decision to accelerate early returns for aircraft whose lease periods have not yet matured is in line with intensive efforts to restore business performance, Garuda CEO Irfan Setiaputra emphasised in the statement. “The acceleration of the return is being carried out after mutual agreement between Garuda Indonesia and the lessor, in which one of the conditions for returning the aircraft is to change its registration code,” he said, as quoted by Indonesia’s Viva news site. “Our main focus is adjustment to the projected market needs in the new normal era,” he added. “We are also continuing to establish communication with other lessors, of course, while prioritising the applicable legal and compliance aspects.” Garuda Indonesia currently operates seventy-three B737-800s in a total fleet of 142 aircraft. All but one of the B737-800s are leased from a spectrum of 26 different lessors, the ch-aviation fleets advanced module shows.