Citilink executives resign after pilot is accused of being drunk
Thursday, 02 Jan, 2017
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The CEO and operations director of low cost airline Citilink have tendered their resignations after a pilot was accused of attempting to fly a plane while drunk.
Albert Burhan, CEO of Citilink, the low cost unit of Indonesian national carrier Garuda resigned along with director for operations Hadinoto Soedigno.
The pilot has been fired even though preliminary tests were negative.
The pilot was named as 32-year-old Tekad Purna.
An investigation is continuing into the matter after passengers became concerned when the pilot apparently began slurring his words.
Some passengers even exited the plane.
"I think the resignation is an elegant way of taking responsibility but Citilink is a subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia, a publicly listed company, so the decision will require approval from our shareholders, including the government. I hope the case will be concluded in the next one-two weeks," Garuda CEO Arid Wibowo said in an interview.
"We will do an in-depth evaluation, we’re currently taking systemic and strategic measures [to prevent similar incidents in the future]."
The flight from Surabaya to Jakarta was delayed one hour while a replacement pilot was found.
Burhan had been Citilink’s CEO for nearly two years after replacing Wibowo, who was promoted to head the main business Garuda.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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