PT Arzaq Power Indonesia???

[flingwing1]

I just ran across a story in the Jakarta Post from last year about the son of former Indonesian president BJ Habbie developing a new MRO on Batam Island near Singapore.

According to several sources, Habbie's son is the CEO of a company named Ilthabi Rekatama. That company is partnering with PT Arzaq Power Indonesia. Nothing further is said about PT Arzaq Power Indonesia at all. Further, in the JakPos story, Habbie even says that "The decision to reveal any information is their right and obligation".

However, Arzaq Power Indonesia even has some job openings for AS 350 helicopter pilots listed on the Internet through Rishworth Aviation.

QUESTION: Anyone know who PT. Arzaq Power Indonesia is?

[carsickpuppy]

Just recently Rishworth has a listing for 135/145 pilots at the same company, a cursory Google investigation did not reveal much.

[Helicopter doctor]

There has been a rash of small unknown helicopter Companies starting up in the last few years. In general the amount of money that operators charge seems to be the attraction for many of these "investors", but there is no thought given to what it costs to operate professionally. Had a meeting not long ago with one of these guys, he was awed at the amount of money that could be billed out in a month, but completely ignored, when told, the costs involved in maintenance, support, spares and facilities. Just blew that off.

You can not expect to have any spare parts, support equipment or facilities with these newcomers. They think the helicopter is like a Toyota Kijang, you buy it, then drive it and drive it and drive it. Preventive maintenance is an unknown concept. As many are buying new machines, they can get away with this for a couple of years, but then the time spent sitting around in the rain starts to take effect.

Given the background of this operation, I would not expect it to be any better.

Doc

[flingwing1]

Yeah, and even some of the more established operators try to get by on the cheap when it comes to operating costs.

After your mentioning the ". . . rash of small helicopter operators starting up . . ." I went to the DGCA's website to see the current list of non-scheduled air operators. You're right: I haven't heard of many of these guys. One was operating out of a ruko address in Kota. Now I wouldn't be surprised to see an outfit named "Grace L. Furgeson Airlines and Storm Door Company" <grin>.

If you know of any of these new operators who are struggling to make a go of it, would you please post a few names here? Who knows, maybe they could use some help?

CUL8tr.