REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Publicly listed national flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia through its subsidiary, PT Citilink Indonesia plans to take over PT Tigerair Mandala to strengthen its regional networks. President Director of Citilink Indonesia, M Arif Wibowo said that he had got support from the parent company. Citilink also did a deal with Tigerair Mandala and got the answer.
"Yes, we are interested to take over Tigerair to strengthen Citilink's future development. We will carry out a due diligence this week," Wibowo said on Tuesday.
However, Wibowo refused to disclose the cooperation model, through acquisition or other strategic partnership, including how funding was prepared for it. A source of Tigerair Mandala said that there were other airlines, which were interested to company, namely AirAsia or AirAsia Indonesia. Both have signed a non disclosure agreement about nine days ago.
Mandala Airlines was established in 1969. Due to financial situation, the airline was sold to Cardig International (51 percent) and Indigo Partners (49 percent) in 2006. The airline experienced a default and stopped its operation in January 2011. Saratoga Group and Tiger Airways of Singapore then took over the ownership in April 2012.