Garuda Indonesia plans to order up to 50 narrowbody aircraft for its low-cost subsidiary Citilink at the upcoming Paris Air Show.
Half of these will be firm orders while the remaining 25 are options, said Garuda's CEO Emirsyah Satar. He declined to specify the aircraft type, but said he expects deliveries to begin from 2014.
Citilink currently operates eight Boeing 737 Classics which Garuda plans to retire once it receives new aircraft. Satar has said, however, that this does not necessarily mean that Garuda would favour the 737.
The airline also plans to lease at least five 737s by year-end or early 2012 to help it grow Citilink's route network. "The new aircraft will come in 2014 and that is too late. So we plan to lease some aircraft before that," said Satar.
In addition, the airline is still assessing Bombardier and Embraer aircraft for its planned regional jet order. It is looking to order 18 to 25 regional jets to operate on low-density domestic routes, such as from its new hub in Makassar, said Satar.
"We will make a decision by year-end and are in the process of choosing the right aircraft," he added.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
