GE Aerospace announced its strategic cooperation with Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia's national airline, to restore and overhaul the airline’s fleet of GE and CFM* engines.
Garuda and its subsidiaries, Garuda Group, GMF AeroAsia and Citilink, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with GE Aerospace that encompasses training and skills development, lease engine support and overhaul services for Garuda Indonesia’s fleet of CFM56-7B and GE90-115B engines.
“This is a strategic step for Garuda Indonesia as a world class airline to strengthen their fleet of GE and CFM aircraft engines and develop further skills for overhaul services with our support," said Kathy MacKenzie, Vice President, GE Commercial Programs for GE Aerospace. "Indonesia is an important country for GE, and our support for Garuda Indonesia is a contribution to advancing this country.”
Irfan Setiaputra, President and CEO of Garuda Indonesia, said, "this longstanding collaboration of services and support between Garuda Indonesia Group and GE Aerospace reflects our commitment to accelerate our business recovery in order to optimize our mission to be adaptive and agile company specially in seizing market opportunity."
“Aligning with the current airline market trend that shows significant growth amid the pre-endemic phase, Garuda Indonesia mainly focuses on optimizing production capacity through the enhancement of operations, which one of the plans would increase the total of serviceable aircraft to grab wider opportunities in domestic and international networks. Therefore, having continuous support from GE to support the aircraft readiness to be airworthy, is one of the primary fundamentals for us to prepare a seamless, safe, and comfortable flight experience for our customers,” Irfan added.
This agreement will also support Garuda Group engineers to receive a training session from GE Aerospace experts to deepen aircraft engine and maintenance knowledge, along with leadership skills, intended to strengthen Garuda’s service improvement.
Garuda Indonesia is a long-time GE Aerospace and CFM customer. The airline began operating the CF6-50-powered McDonnell Douglas DC-10 in the mid 1970s and took delivery of its first GE90-115B-powered 777-300ER in 2013. Garuda Indonesia currently operates a fleet of 74 CFM56-7B and 16 GE90-115B engines, and it’s subsidiary Citilink currently operates a fleet of 76 CFM56-5B and 20 LEAP-1A engines.
