Garuda Indonesia's budget unit Citilink has denied any involvement in plans by two Malaysian companies to establish a budget airline that will use its brand name.
SMTrack, a Malaysian listed company that provides radio frequency identification tracking services, announced on 15 April a plan to buy 60% of Citilink's Malaysian general sales agent, Dexma Express, and start work to transform it into a low-cost carrier under the name Citilink Malaysia. It also indicated that the Indonesian carrier would later invest in the proposed Malaysian affiliate.
But the Indonesian low-cost carrier strongly refuted the plans when approached by FlightGlobal.
"We have not set up any future plan in establishing a business entity in Malaysia. For the time being, we conduct our operations in Malaysia under a cooperation with a local GSA for ticket sales," says Citilink's vice-president corporate secretary Resty Kusandarina.
FlightGlobal was unable to reach SMTrack and Dexma Express for a response following Citilink's comment, and there has been no further updates by SMTrack to the Malaysian stock exchange after its 15 April announcement.
Citilink adds that it is "still continuously growing and expanding its business in Indonesia and other countries in the region."
Cirium schedules data shows that the Indonesian carrier mostly flies on domestic routes, but also from Banyuwangi and Surabaya to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
