Garuda Indonesia expands operations to Australia and China

Jul 1st 2007

Although  Australian arrivals to Bali are still lagging some 30% behind numbers recorded during the heydays just 3 years ago, yet today’s improved year-on-year arrivals have prompted Garuda Indonesia to increase seat capacity with a new Wednesday flight from Sydney to Bali, effective June 20, 2007, reports balidiscovery.com.

Australian arrivals to Bali January-May 2007 totaled 65,561 which represents a +56.34% increase from the same period in 2006.

The new flight, GA 717 brings the total number of Garuda Indonesia services between Sydney and Bali to five non-stop flights per week with departures daily, except Tuesday and Friday.
 
"The introduction of the new service results in a doubling of capacity from Sydney since the end of March which, along with capacity increases from Perth and Melbourne earlier in the year, put Garuda Indonesia in a good position to handle the increasing demand for Bali," said the airline's Regional General Manager, Southwest Pacific, Suranto Yitnopawiro.

Garuda Indonesia has the greatest number of non-stop flights to Bali, serving Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Darwin.

Increased services to China

At the same time, according to Indonesia’s Trade and Investment News published by the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy, Indonesia’s National flag carrier PT Garuda Indonesia and China's fourth largest airline, Hainan Airlines, have signed a code-sharing agreement on Tuesday (19/6/07) to strengthen their marketing positions both in China and Indonesia, reported The Jakarta Post.

Agus Priyanto, Garuda executive Vice President for Sales and Marketing, said the agreement would allow Hainan Airlines to sell up to 20 seats on each Garuda flight from Jakarta to Beijing, and vice-versa.  The agreement will come into effect in July.

According to Den Jiang, General Manager of Hainan Airlines, his company would also serve Garuda passengers with connecting flights to domestic destinations in China, including to Harbin, Hangzou and Nanning. "Through this deal, Garuda and Hainan Airlines hope to secure bigger markets in the Chinese region and in Indonesia," Priyanto said. Hainan Airlines flies to 53 cities across China, while Garuda flies 16 times a week to four cities in China.

In 2006, Garuda carried more than 275,000 passengers between the two countries and expects the figure to increase to more than 300,000 passengers this year. Garuda's China routes generate $130 million from passengers and $150 million from cargo, about 25% of the airline's total revenue.