Manunggal Air (Jakarta Halim) and other Indonesian operators whose fleets consist of less than five aircraft are to be forced to merge by Indonesia's Ministry of Transportation in an effort to reduce the country's overall number of registered carriers from the current 42 to 38.
Aside from Manunggal Air with its fleet of three BAe 146-100s, AIN Online reports that among the other active carriers that will be affected by the move are: Aviastar Mandiri (VIT, Jakarta Halim) which operates three BAe 146-200s; Air Regional (Wamena) with three PAL P-750 XSTOLs; and Cardigair (7D, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) with three B737-300(F)s.
The deadline for compliance has been set at March 2017.
A similar initiative was launched in 2009 and aimed to reduce the overall number of operators to 28 by 2012. However, local carriers pleaded for more time to secure funding given the then minimum requirement to operate at least ten aircraft of which five were to have been owned.
Jakarta says consolidation will have the added benefit of simplifying regulatory oversight while at the same time ensuring that smaller carriers are able to sustain financial shocks such as those endured during the 1998 and 2007/8 financial crises.
