Pertamina prepares Pelita Air for public offering
Saturday, August 26 2000 - 04:00 AM WIB
State oil and gas company Pertamina is preparing its airline subsidiary PT Pelita Air Service to go public (public offering) to allow the airline, which recently received a license to provide scheduled services, raise public funds for its expansion program.
The airline's president Suratman said in Jakarta on Friday that he hoped the initial public offering (IPO) plan could be realized in 2003.
He said that the Pelita, which has solely operated as chartered airline services for at least 30 years, entered a new era when it started its regular services earlier this year. The company began its regular service in July by opening Jakarta, Makassar-Sorong route. The second regular service inking Jakarta and Yogyakarta was opened in Aug 11.
Suratman said that the company planned to procure several more airplanes including seven F-28 or F-100 aircraft and three Boeing 737-200 jets to increase its fleet. At present, the airline operates 24 aircraft with revolving propellers, 21 airplanes with fixed propellers, seven Fokkers (F-70, F-28 and F-100), five DASH airplanes and one Casa 212 aircraft. (*)