Garuda Indonesia plans daily flights for all Asian and Australian destinations

[JuliusWong 0]

Publicly listed Garuda Indonesia says all international routes in Asia and Australia served by the airline will see gradual increases in flights until all destinations are served on a daily basis. Such a target should be achieved by the end of this year, the company said.

 

To support the plan, Garuda expects to have 11 new aircraft this year, consisting of four Boeing B737-800 New Generation, two Airbus A330-200 and five 100 sub-seaters.

 

Garuda currently flies to 19 international destinations across Asia, Australia and Europe.

 

“We are trying to increase flights for international destinations in Asia and Europe. We even plan to have two flights a day for special routes such as for Jakarta–Hong Kong,” marketing director Arif Wibowo said on Thursday.

 

The plan, he said, was in line with the company’s ambition to be a prominent regional player, targeting to increase the total number of international flight passengers to 22 million from 17 million last year.

 

Arif said the company’s stronger focus on the Asian and Australian markets reflected its confidence in the resilience of economies in Asia amid the crises in the US and Europe.

 

Earlier this week, Garuda announced cuts to its Jakarta–Amsterdam via Dubai flights from seven to four times a week as of March 1 due to sluggish demand.

 

Arif said the flight reductions to Europe vis-à-vis Amsterdam was temporary. “We are still planning to expand our network in Europe such as Frankfurt and Rome in 2013,” provided that the economic condition in the eurozone improves, he said.

 

In October, Garuda increased flight frequencies on a number of routes, such as Denpasar–Sydney from six to seven times a week, Denpasar–Seoul from five to seven times a week, Jakarta–Melbourne from three to four times a week, and Denpasar–Melbourne from four to five times a week.

 

In addition, since the end of December last year, the airline increased its Jakarta–Shanghaiflights from five to seven times a week, Jakarta–Beijing flights from three to five times a week and Jakarta–Seoul flights from six to seven times a week.

 

Besides the international routes, Garuda will add flights on several domestic routes this year: Jakarta–Batam from four to five times per day and Jakarta–Pekanbaru from five to six times per day, he said.

 

The airline also plans to open a new route from Bandung to Surabaya and back starting Feb. 10. “The Bandung–Surabaya route will be served daily. GA 361 will leave Jakarta at 2:35 p.m. and arrive in Surabaya at 3:45 p.m. and GA 360 will depart from Surabaya at 12:35 p.m. and arrive in Bandung at 1:50 p.m.,” Arif said.

 

Garuda Indonesia passengers from Bandung will also be able to continue their flight to Denpasar, Bali and Makassar, South Sulawesi via Surabaya.

 

The airline and Bank Mandiri signed a memorandum of understanding for joint promotion on Wednesday at the Garuda Indonesia sales office in Senayan, Jakarta. Bank Mandiri executive vice president of consumer finance Mansyur Nasution said a Rp 1 trillion (US $112 million) target from corporate sales had been set. “Last year, our joint promotion reached Rp 600 billion [$67.20 million],” Mansyur said.

 

Arif said that Garuda’s total corporate sales in 2011 were Rp 1.5 trillion and the airline is planning to double the figure this year.

 

Source: The Jakarta Post. 27/11/2011 http://www.asianewsn...?id=27029&sec=2

Edited January 27, 2012 by JuliusWong

[Pieter C. 5]

Told you already long ago, this will be KLM's new code-shared Skyteam partner for connections into Asia and Australia...too bad for MH (:

[Ruiz Razy 1]

Told you already long ago, this will be KLM's new code-shared Skyteam partner for connections into Asia and Australia...too bad for MH (:

Wonder will there b any "adjustments" to KL's AMS-KUL-CGK , or will we c the possibility of developing AMS - CGK by KL with some KUL flights b cut or reduced ?

 

[JuliusWong 0]

I think KLM will make KUL and CGK point to point service, dropped KUL-CGK vv.

[KK Lee 5]

I think KLM will make KUL and CGK point to point service, dropped KUL-CGK vv.

 

Given number of pax on KUL-AMS, it is more likely KUL will be tagged on to BKK or SGN e.g. AMS-BKK-AMS.

[JuliusWong 0]

Thanks, KK Lee. It would be a possibility as well. If it does happened, KLIA is really having a lot of tag-on flight.

[Izanee 0]

I thought KLM flew a lot of pax from AMS and beyond to KUL. How will it work if it was tagged with BKK? Maybe SGN would work.

Funny thing is, MH is supposed to be joining oneworld this year but I see very little effort being made to cooperate more closely with CX, JL, QF, BA. Things should be in place for when they do join OW. So far, only the realignment of the LAX route and the rumours of QF joint venture is what we have.

Anyways, it's off topic. KL and MH partnership has been good for both.. It is a shame if that will end this year. I enjoyed flying KLM from KUL to regional airports in the UK.

[KK Lee 5]

Given number of pax on KUL-AMS, it is more likely KUL will be tagged on to BKK or SGN e.g. AMS-BKK-AMS.

 

Edited January 28, 2012 by KK Lee