SBY Takes First Flight on New Presidential Jet

Jakarta Globe, ID/Novy Lumanauw & Ezra Sihite, May 05, 2014

Indonesia’s first presidential plane. (JG Photo/Ezra Sihite)

Jakarta. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Monday afternoon made use for the first time of the nation’s new $91 million presidential plane for a short flight to a conference in Bali.

Yudhoyono and his entourage took off from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta at 1 p.m., presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said.

The president will remain in Bali until May 7 to attend the Asia Pacific Open Government Partnership Conference and visit the Mancawarna Palace Museum.

The customized 737-800 will take its first long journey on May 10, carrying the President to the ASEAN Summit in Myanmar.

Yudhoyono said that the plane was intended for use by his successor by that he was grateful to make use of it during his final months in office.

His term ends in October.

“[The plane] is for the next president after me,” he said at the State Palace on Monday. “Ten years as a president, Alhamdulillah, and within the last six month I can use the plane that can save our budget.”

The jet, dubbed Indonesia One, arrived on April 10 from a Boeing facility in Seattle, Washington. For the past month, it has undergone a series of tests and made a series of flights crisscrossing the country, from Banda Aceh to Manado to Merauk, Papua.

State Secretary Sudi Silalahi said that the plane, which can carry 67 passengers, would save money, although critics have called it an unnecessary expenditure.

“From our calculations, we can save the state budget around Rp 114.2 billion [$10.05 million] every year from the use of the plane for the years ahead,” he said in April.