Sempati Air Transport has axed all international routes, laid off nearly 60% of its staff and reduced its fleet to just five Boeing 737-200s as Indonesia's deepening economic crisis threatens many of the country's smaller carriers with bankruptcy.
Privately owned Sempati cut around 1,000 of its 1,700-strong workforce from 1 March. The airline has also returned four leased A300B4s to Airbus Leasing and seven Fokker 100s to General Electric Capital.
This has effectively reduced the fleet to just seven 737-200s, of which only five are operational. The rapid fall in the value of the Indonesia rupiah against the dollar has made lease rates prohibitively expensive and undermined the planned purchase of 26 737-200s from United Airlines.
Sempati says that the number of aircraft being discussed with United has been cut to 12. It does not now expect to receive the first aircraft until at least the end of the year. Its four remaining Fokker F27s are for sale, while a fifth remains impounded in Singapore.
With a rapid drop off in international traffic in the face of local economic and political difficulties, Sempati has abandoned its routes to Penang, Perth, Singapore and Taipei. The number of domestic services has also been halved, to eight, because passenger load factors have fallen to as little as 30%.
The situation appears to be little better for Indonesia's two other main private carriers, Bouraq Indonesia Airlines and Mandala Airlines. The former is reported to have also laid off staff and is using only two of its 10 737-200s.
Source: Flight International
