Garuda and Irish lessor AerCap signed a global side letter agreement on July 28 to stop legal proceedings, following Aercap's bankruptcy lawsuit in June at the New South Wales Supreme Court, Garuda said separately in a stock exchange filing.
The nine aircraft are the total number of jets leased from Aercap, Irfan said in a text message, adding that details of the return were still being discussed with the lessor.
"The company agreed, among other things, to fly and relocate nine leased Boeing B737 800NG aircraft to an approved location," the filing issued at the weekend said.
Garuda has been trying to return surplus planes due to the travel disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, seeking early termination, lease holidays, or pay-by-the-hour schemes in a bid to reduce its fleet size and cut costs, company executives told a parliament hearing.
As of June, Garuda had returned 20 planes to lessors and was negotiating to return more. Garuda is only flying 41 planes of the 142 in its fleet due to low demand for travel caused by the pandemic.
Via Reuters
