W hile Ilham may be a bridge to the past in seeking to preserve his father's vision, he too knows IPTN must change. The planned shake-up, yet to be announced at IPTN, follows demands by the company's unionized workers for immediate changes. Union leaders say workers are fed up after long months of reporting for duty and spending most of their shifts gossiping or leafing through newspapers. Some IPTN executives attribute worker unrest to massive lay-offs over the past year. The bloated payroll of 15,500 workers has been reduced to 10,500, and the company plans to cut a further 3,500 jobs to reduce the current monthly operating costs of 25 billion rupiah.
Workers also gripe about the quality of the company's leaders.
They have trouble turning their plans into reality. The development of the N-250 is a case in point. The company's last hope for remaining in the aircraft business is the CN-235, which was jointly developed with Spain's Construcciones Aeronauticas. Outstanding overseas orders include two planes to be delivered this year to a small Philippine carrier, Asian Spirit. The deal was due to be signed on February 23 at the Singapore air show.