Garuda knocks back AirAsia bid for Citilink
Garuda Indonesia has shot down AirAsia Indonesia’s bid to acquire its low cost subsidiary Citilink.
AirAsia recently said it was interested in acquiring Citilink but there have been no official discussions.
Garuda president director Ari Askhara said the only discussions that have taken place between the two parties were about business cooperation and not an acquisition.
"Citilink is doing better than AirAsia, even under Garuda’s new management," Ari said.
AirAsia Indonesia president director Dendy Kurniawan earlier this week said there were a lot of similarities between the two carriers which could make an acquisition attractive.
"Both are LCCs. We are strong in international routes, while they [Citilink] are strong domestically. We have also a similar rating of pilots and cabin crew members. We are interested," Dendy said.
Both carriers operate fleets of Airbus aircraft.
Citilink operates more than 30 domestic routes as well as scheduled international services to Malaysia.
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