Garuda Indonesia books USD 29.3 million net profit in H1 2015

PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk. (IDX: GIAA) has successfully booked USD 29.3 million net profit in first semester of 2015, increasing 114.5 percent compared to the same period of last year a negative of USD 201.3 million.

The performance growth - amidst the economic down turn - is successfully achieved through various initiatives of the airline called the "Quick Wins” program as well as continuous efficiency strategy.

Garuda Indonesia also succeeded in increasing its operating revenue to USD 1.84 billion, an increase 4.7 percent from USD 1.76 billion compared to previous year; while operating expenses decreased by 11.6 percent from USD 1.99 billion to USD 1.76 billion. The increased net income and decreased operating expenses marks the positive improvement of the management, supported by the strong performance of the company since Q1/2015.

In line with the ongoing network expansion program, Garuda Indonesia (including Citilink) successfully transported 15,900,961 passengers, an increase of 19.5 percent from a total of 13,307,351 passengers last year. Garuda Indonesia transported 11,555,319 passengers (comprised of 9,432,349 domestic passengers and 2,122,979 international passengers), an increase of 15.3 percent, while Citilink managed to transport 4,345,642 passengers, an increase of 32 percent from 3,382,844 passengers last year. Meanwhile, cargo reached 176,123 tons, decreased from 193,508 tons compared to last year.

The flight frequency of Garuda Indonesia, both the domestic and international routes, reached 122,446 flights, increased by 13.8 percent compared to the same period last year from 107,568 flights. Meanwhile, the availability seat kilometers (ASK) has increased by 7.2 percent, or 26.08 billion from 24,32 billion ASK in the second semester of 2014.

Similarly, Seat Load Factor/SLF in the first semester of 2015 improved to 75.8 percent compared to 69 percent in the same period of last year. On Time Performance (OTP) reached 89.7 percent, while aircraft utilisation reached 09:12 hour.

Apart from that, Garuda Indonesia has also successfully increased its domestic and international market share. In H1 2015 Garuda Indonesia commanded 44 percent of domestic market share, a noticeable increase from 37 percent last year. International market share has also increased to 28 percent from 21 percent in the same period of 2014.

Up to June 2015, Garuda Indonesia operates a total of 180 aircraft (Garuda Indonesia and Citilink) consisteing of Boeing 777-300ER (7), Airbus 330-200/300 (22), Boeing 747-400 (2), Airbus 320 (35), Boeing 737-500/800NG (89), Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen (15), and ATR 72-600 (10) with an average fleet age of 4.8 years. By the end of 2015, Garuda Indonesia will operate a total of 190 aircraft with an average fleet age of 4.3 years.

In an anticipation of the weakening Indonesian Rupiah to US Dollar, in the first quarter of 2015, Garuda Indonesia has signed a “Cross Currency Swap” agreement with various banks in order to protect any transaction in the amount of IDR 2 trillion.

The "Cross Currency Swap" is an effort to avoid or limit the dramatic increase of the operational expenses as a consequence of the weakening of the Rupiah to USD, as most of the operational expenses paid are in USD, such as spare parts purchasing, maintenance, and aircraft lease.

Further, as a resolve to lock-in new funding at an attractive cost and more competitive cost financing, since May 2015, Garuda Indonesia had priced a USD 500 million 5-year Sukuk offering with a coupon of 5.95 percent. This USD 500 million Sukuk offering by Garuda Indonesia was the first un-rated Global Sukuk in USD denomination issued by one corporation in Asia Pacific, with the total amount of order reaching 4 times from the target. Through this exercise, Garuda Indonesia has successfully re-profiled and extended maturity of its debt schedule.

The offering was structured as a Wakala Sukuk based on Rights to Travel using an orphan-based SPV, with Garuda Indonesia Global Sukuk Limited as the issuer. This is the first non-sovereign USD Sukuk out of Indonesia – paving the way for other Indonesian SOEs and corporates to tap this market. Garuda’ Indonesia's Sukuk offering was done without any government or financial institution guarantee, making it the first Asia Pacific national flag carrier to successfully issue a USD benchmark bond on a standalone basis.

In line with Garuda Indonesia’s continuous service enhancement program, Garuda Indonesia’s cabin crew again was voted “The World’s Best Cabin Crew 2015” by Skytrax – a London-based, independent airline ranking agency. The award is the second consequtive year it has been won by Garuda Indonesia after winning the same title in 2014, beating other leading world airlines. At the same occasion, Garuda Indonesia was also awarded the 8th position on “The World’s Best Airlines” list.

sourced:traveldailynews.asia