MEMBERS of the Garuda Indonesia Pilot Association (APG) went on strike today, following a deadlock on salary negotiations with the flag carrier's management. Impact on services, however, seemed to be minimal.

Minister of State Enterprises, Mustafa Abubakar, said after a surprise inspection of the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport: “Garuda was operating normally. There was no crowding of passengers. Yes, there were a number of delays at some airports because of sudden rescheduling of crew, and we apologise that this had to happen.”

Garuda executice vice president, operations, Ari Sapari, said in a press conference yesterday that training pilots and pilots with management desk jobs were on call in anticipation of the strike.

A number of  flights – one each from Makassar, Jogjakarta and Palembang to Jakarta – were delayed as of press time. But flights were generally running as normal.

The APG is demanding equal pay with the airline's foreign contracted pilots, who they claim are earning double their salary (TTG Asia e-Daily, July 14). Airline management, in response, offered an option for Indonesian  pilots to re-enroll as contracted pilots to get the benefits of the foreign pilots.