Jakarta. State-run energy firm Pertamina said Friday that they were waiting for sovereign wealth fund Danantara’s instructions in regard to the planned merger between its commercial airline subsidiary Pelita Air and the flag carrier Garuda Indonesia. 

Danantara, which now has all of the country’s state-owned enterprises under its command, is working on a plan to merge the two airlines. While the merger is far from a done deal, Danantara’s executives seem to have no intentions of budging on the plan. Agung Wicaksono, the director for transformation and business sustainability at Pertamina, revealed that Danantara had ordered state companies to “focus on strengthening its finances” for the rest of the year.

“This order applies to Pertamina, Pelita Air, and even Garuda. As for 2026, we will wait for any instructions by Danantara, which will take the reviews [regarding the merger] into consideration,” Agung told reporters in Jakarta.  

However, Agung admitted that Pelita Air and Garuda “had already discussed various collaborations”, although he did not go into details of the talks. “We will wait for Danantara’s instructions before making the business move [merger] in question,” Agung said.  

Danantara’s boss Rosan Roeslani said not long ago that the merger was still under review, while admitting that the changes were necessary to optimize “existing assets, be it from [the airlines'] flight time to the aircraft parts.” When the possible merger made headlines, Garuda Indonesia’s president director Wamildan Tsani said in mid-September that the plan was still at “an early stage of exploration”.

Business-wise, Garuda Indonesia has been in the red. The airline suffered a $69.78 million net loss last year, which they blamed on major aircraft maintenance and a normalized revenue structure. Pelita Air, however, bounced back from a loss to an after-tax profit of $5.9 million in 2024, up by 81 percent year-on-year. 

The proposed merger has received criticisms from Indonesia’s lawmakers, some fearing it can do more harm than good on the well-performing Pelita Air. Danantara’s chief operating officer Dony Oskaria said that any consolidation done by the agency aimed to improve businesses’ competitiveness, while adding that the lawmakers actually meant well by their worries.

“I wouldn’t see it as the lawmakers disapproving of our plan, … but let’s think of it as a reminder. … We will take note of [their concerns] so the process will not ruin Pelita Air's performance, but instead make it even better," Dony said to the press on Monday.

According to the Transportation Ministry, the carriers will have to operate on a single air operator’s certificate (ACO) if merged. This document allows aircraft operators to use their planes for commercial purposes.

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