JAKARTA: State-owned Merpati Nusantara Airlines (Merpati) president director Rudy Setyopurnomo said the airlines hoped that its creditors would write off its outstanding debts, Indonesia’s Antara reported.
“Merpati owed the debts to its creditors when it was led by previous managements.
“We hope the government would settle the issue because most of the debts also came from state-owned firms,” Rudy said here.
However, Rudy declined to reveal the amount of the company’s outstanding debts as he had been Merpati`s president director only since May 2012.
“I could not remember the figure,” he said.
Earlier reports had it that Merpati`s outstanding debts reached 3.14 trillion rupiah (about RM1 billion).
Merpati owed the money to a number of state firms such as oil and gas firm Pertamina, Bank Mandiri, airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II, state asset management firm PPA and insurance service Jasindo.
Earlier, State-owned Enterprise Minister Dahlan Iskan asked Merpati to consistently focus on running the operations of its business activities.
“Merpati should not be overwhelmed by its debts.
“Merpati must focus on its business plan so that it will not end up like Batavia Air that has gone bankrupt,” he said.
He said Merpati had been improving as the company was now able to regularly pay its workers, pay airport cost, fuel needs and insurance. — Bernama