IPTN has dropped ambitions to break into the regional jet market. It aims to generate more revenue from non-core work such as subcontracting and engineering services, as it struggles to recover from Indonesia's economic slump.
According to S Paramajuda, president of IPTN and its parent company BPIS, the manufacturer wants to sell the N2130 regional jet programme. IPTN has completed preliminary design for the aircraft, but has failed to find a partner to finance development. The manufacturer also seeks a partner to invest $90 million in the N250 turboprop programme.
The company is being restructured, with the separation of units such as research and development and flight test from aeronautical business units and non-aeronautical activities.
"There is a clear separation between core [fixed-wing aircraft manufacture] and non-core activities," says Ilham Habibie, IPTN's executive vice-president operations and commercial.
Some of IPTN's non-core business units will be sold as the company adopts a "revenue-oriented strategy", he says. While up to now, 95% of the company's revenue has come from core activities, this will be reduced to 70%. One of the objectives is to generate subcontract and engineering work.
As a result of the sale and restructuring, IPTN's workforce of about 10,500 - already 4,000 fewer than before the downturn - will be reduced to a maximum of 7,000 by the end of the year as the individual business units push for efficiency, predicts Paramajuda. He says that the full process of business reorientation, workforce reduction and capital restructuring could take up to three years to complete.
Orders for IPTN-produced aircraft continue to trickle in, with a three-aircraft CN-235 lease agreement signed at the show with Philippines carrier Asian Spirit Airlines. The first aircraft is to be delivered in March.
The company has also won a contract from the Indonesian air force to re-engine two Eurocopter SA330 Puma helicopters with Turboméca Makila 1A1 engines. IPTN is pursuing re-engining contracts on four more. It has agreed deals with Garuda and Merpati covering interior refurbishing on the airlines' fleets. Orders for six NC212 maritime patrol aircraft and three NBO 105 aircraft are under review as a result of budget restrictions, says Habibie.
Source: Flight International
