JAKARTA – Indonesia’s vice president Jusuf Kalla has called for a reshuffle of the senior management of the state-owned carrier PT Merpati Nusantara Airlines.
Bali Update (www.balidiscovery.com), quoting local media, said the current director of MZ has been told to present a detailed plan to the vice president providing a road map for the solution of the major problems of the airline, including renegotiation of its current debt.
“In two days the directors of Merpati must report back to the vice president,” explained Jusman Syafii Djamal, minister of transportation, following an emergency meeting at the vice president’s office.
Jusman said Kalla insists that MZ continue to operate and develop its routes in eastern Indonesia. “The problem of their (MZ) staffing must also be resolved,” he added.
In a separate report in NusaBali the severity of MZ’s current problems was underlined by a confirmation that the airline currently has insufficient cash to meet its payroll obligations.
It has been a bad week for Indonesia’s airlines. The European Union denied a fresh Garuda request to be taken of the EU’s blacklist, which prevents those airlines on the list to fly to any EU destination on grounds of safety.
