Jakarta, Feb 1 (ANTARA) - Travel agents across the country are calling
for the refunding of their deposit money they have transferred to the
account of Batavia Air following the closure of the airlines by a
Jakarta commercial court on Wednesday.
The
travel agents made the appeal through their associations such as the
Indonesian Airline Ticketing Association (Astindo) and the Indonesian
Tour and Travel Association (Asita).
According to Astindo, travel agents are required to deposit an amount
of funds in the account of airlines before they could provide
reservation services for would-be passengers. The funds are not part of
the airlines' assets.
Therefore, Astindo urged Batavia Air, following its closure, to refund
the money that the travel agents have deposited with the bankrupt
airlines.
"Travel agents called on Batavia Air to refund the deposit they have
placed at Batavia Air," Astindo chairwoman Elly Hutabarat said on
Thursday.
The same hope was also raised by the Indonesian Tour and Travel
Association (Asita). "We ask Batavia Air to account for losses suffered
by travel agents and consumers in the regions," Asita chairman for West
Kalimatnan, Hefni AS said meanwhile.
Starting
last Thursday, privately owned Batavia Air halted operations following
the Central Jakarta Commercial Court ruling that declared the carrier
bankrupt for failing to pay for aircraft it had leased.
Previously,
the International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) filed a bankrupt
petition against the carrier after it had failed to pay US$4.68 million
for two leased Airbus A330s for three years. The debts matured on
December 13, 2012.
Batavia Air leased the Airbuses in a plan to fly passengers making
pilgrimage to Mecca. The plan fell apart however when the company failed
to win a tender for the official airline that flies hajj passengers and
the plane could not be used as productive as originally hoped.
The Batavia Air management said that it had appointed four trustees to
help handle all matters related to the closing of the airlines. "All
interested parties are expected to wait for directives from the
trustees," Batavia Air Public Relations Officer Elly Simanjuntak said on
Wednesday.
According to travel agents, the closure of the company is a disaster to
them. "The court's decision on the bankruptcy of Batavia Air is a
disaster for travel agents which are members of Astindo," Elly Hutabarat
said.
Elly expressed regret that such a bankruptcy had happened several
times, and it once again victimized travel agents.
Over the
past few years several airlines have been declared bankrupt such as
Sempati Air, Jatayu Airlines, Adam Air, Buraq Indonesia, Indonesia
Airlines and Linus Airways. All this disadvantaged the people.
She said that to prevent travel agents from becoming victims in the
future, Astindo is asking the Ministry of Transportation to regulate the
placement by travel agents of deposit funds with airlines.
"Regulations should provide that deposit funds should be placed at an
escrow account where funds could be withdrawn by travel agents anytime
when airlines stopped operating," she said.
Elly said with that the present payment system, the airlines operations were actually financed by travel agents.
According to Asita, the closure of the aircraft firm might incur
billions of rupiahs on travel agents, citing travel agents in West
Kalimantan as an example.
Asita chairman for West Kalimantan Hefni AS said that travel agents in
the province suffered a loss of at least Rp3.06 billion.
In the province there are about 102 travel and tour operators. Each of
them put some Rp30 million in deposit fund in the Batavia Air account.
"This excludes financial risks in the face of angry passengers who ask
for tickets refund or ask for a flight change," said Hefni.
In the meantime, Astindo for Riau province said the government should
be responsible for the bankruptcy of Batavia Air. "What happens with
the government? After the bankruptcy of Adam Air and Mandala Air
(several years ago), now it is Batavia Air is declared bankrupt,"
Astindo chairman for Riau Province, Ibnu Mas'ud said on Friday.
He questioned the fate of money passengers had paid for tickets as well
as the deposit money travel agents had transferred to Batavia Air
account.
Ibnu said that the government, in this case the ministry of
transportation, should have learned a lesson from previous cases. The
ministry which issued permits and carried out supervision should be
responsible for this case.
He
said that over the past few years several airlines had been declared
bankrupt such as Sempati Air, Jatayu Airlines, Adam Air, Buraq
Indonesia, Indonesia Airlines and Linus Airways. All this disadvantaged
the people.
Is
the government responsible for the losses suffered by
consumers? According to economic observer Ediyanus Herman Halim of the
Riau University, the government is not responsible for this.
"It is the consumers own risks for purchasing tickets from an airlines with such a condition," Ediyanus said.
He said that even share-holders were facing risks of losing their
capital because Batavia Air was declared bankrupt. It was closed based
on a decision of a court which approved a bankrupt petition by the
International Lease Finance Corporation (ILFC) against Batavia Air.
The observer said that a company which was closed due to bankruptcy had
given priorities to three things in settling their obligations. The
main priority is to pay its debts to its creditors which are usually
banks.
The second priority is that a bankrupt company has to pay its debts to its special shareholders.
"After the special shareholders' capital is paid, then it should pay
its obligation to regular shareholders. If the three main obligations
have been settled, and there are still remaining assets, then the
company can pay its obligation to common customers," Ediyanus said.
He said that if assets were only enough to settle the three main
obligations, customers have to face realities that the company was
bankrupt.
"In this case the government could not be demanded for accountability
because Batavia is a private company," he said.***3***
(Writing by Andi Abdussalam; Check-editing by yoseph hariyadi)
(A014/H-YH)
(T.A014/A/A014/A/H-YH) 01-02-2013 21:07: |
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