"We are just processing the recruitment," he said here on Friday at the Indonesia Stock Exchange. He said the plan was part of the company`s business expansion program to meet the increasing fleet.
Emirsyah admitted the recruitment was urgent because the lack of pilots had often caused disruption on Garuda flight operations.
In recruiting the pilots Garuda cooperated with domestic pilot schools. Besides domestic pilots Garuda has also employed several foreign pilots upon contracts.
On February 11, 2011 the state-owned company officially listed its shares at the Indonesia Stock Exchange and has raised Rp3.3 trillion through an initial stock public offering.
Emirsyah said all the proceeds from the IPO would be used for expansion including increasing the number of planes.
Until 2015 Garuda expects to increase its fleet to 153 from currently 86.
He said the 67 planes to be added to Garuda`s fleet include Boeing 777-300ER Longhorn, Air Bus 300 (medium) and Boeing 737-800 Next Generation.
"Besides that we will also procure planes with a capacity of below 100 passenger seats to serve several cities in Sulawesi and Kalimantan," he said.(*)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
