GARUDA'S CONTROL SYSTEM DISRUPTED DUE TO INTERNAL CORPORATE PROBLEM?

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, Nov 24 (ANTARA) - A failure in its newly introduced integrated operational control system (IOCS)  is officially said to have caused state-owned airlines Garuda Indnonesia to delay or cancel flight schedules over the past several days but suspicion has arisen that the flight chaos was not due to a technical problem but  an internal corporate issue.          "We suspect that the delays have happened due to an internal corporate problem. We want to examine whether the flight chaos is related to Garuda's plan to issue an initial public offering (IPO), or purely to a failure in its control system," Imam Nahrawi, a member of the House Commission V on transportation affairs, said here on Wednesday.          He said that the House Commission V would ask for information whether the delays and cancellations of flights had something to do with PT Garuda's plan to issue its IPO  next year, or with other reasons.          Imam who is a politician of the Nation's Awakening Party (PKB) said that so far his side had obtained information from Garuda officials at Juanda airport in Surabaya that the delays had something to do with the plan of Garuda to go public.         "If it causes its passengers to be neglected that would mean that there is something wrong within Garuda itself," Imam said. Therefore, he said, the House Commission will also examine whether the problem had taken place due an internal conflict of PT Garuda, especially with regard to the planned replacement of PT Garuda's president director.          "We have not yet known whether or not there is rivalry inside to win the president director's post. Who knows there is an internal conflict there. We will examine it," he said.          For this reason, House of Representatives (DPR)'s Commission V on transportation affairs will summon the management of state-owned airlines PT Garuda next week over the delays of a number of its flight schedules last Sunday.          Garuda's newly introduced IOCS was disrupted on Sunday, November 21, 2010, causing some of its flight schedules to be delayed or canceled.          President director of PT Garuda Indonesia Emirsyah Satar said that the disruption of the new system started with the break of a connecting cable at the IOCS, while Garuda still has no reliable back up.          "Consequently, the system broke down for four hours on November 19, 2010, and the peak of the disruption was reached on November 21," he said.           Head of Garuda communications affairs Pujobroto said that the state-owned airlines previously used three separate systems to monitor the movements of flights, cabin crew members and flight scheduling. The system was then integrated.  The integrated system has repeatedly undergone trials. But on Sunday, November 21, 2010, the implementation of the system faced a problem.          "Garuda operates 81 airplanes with 580 pilots and cabin crew members. There are 2,000 flights every week," he said.          "Though it has been prepared, yet many complex data could not be synchronized so that information received by cabin crew members was not accurate," he said.          On Monday, PT Garuda Indonesia estimated that the damage on the IOCS would still prevail in the next two days.          "The IOCS was still 80 pct normal today (22/11), and two more days would still be needed to restore it to 100 pct," Emirsyah Satar said. Giving an example, Emirsyah said that for the departures on Tuesday (23/11) 13 Garuda flights to six destinations had been canceled.          Garuda's commercial director Agus Priyanto said that the six destinations are Kuala Lumpur once, Medan twice,  Palembang four times, Semarang three times, Ujung Pandang once, and Surabaya twice.          For the delays, Garuda Indonesia offered an apology to its customers for canceled flights in the past several days due to errors in its new computer system. "Garuda Indonesia offers the greatest possible apology for the delay and cancellation of its several flights on Sunday,"  Garuda Indonesia communications director Pujobroto said.          Emirsyah declined to give details on losses suffered by Garuda regarding the operating system disruption. "It amounts to Rp250 million incurred by having to provide hotel accommodation to 800 passengers and other potential loss some Rp350 million," he said.          Meanwhile, State-owned Enterprise Minister Mustafa Abubakar strongly warned the Garuda management of the failure in the operational control system that caused flight cancellations, asking it to conduct comprehensive investigation into the problem.          "I strongly warn the Garuda management so that it will soon overcome the problem that Garuda is facing," the minister said.         He said that a stern action must be taken against those responsible for the disruption if basic mistakes were found during the investigation.          Minister Abubakar hoped that the IOCS disruption would not be repeated in the future and would not affect Garuda's plan to launch its IPO based on schedule.          "This case should not be repeated so that it would not disturb Garuda plan to issue its initial public offering," Minister Mustafa.          He said that the IPO process has now going on well and based on plan.          Based on the schedule, PT Garuda Indonesia will launch the IPO in the first quarter of 2011. In the first phase it will release 30 percent of the total 40 percent shares that have been approved by the House of Representatives (DPR).  It hopes to collect a fund of about US$300 million to US$400 million from the IPO.***2*** (T.A014/A/HAJM/14:50/f001) 24-11-2010 14:51:0