Indonesia: Garuda adds more flights to China, Mideast

Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is to add additional flights to destinations in China and the Middle East next year as part of the airline’s efforts to maintain its revenue increase.

Garuda Indonesia president director Arif Wibowo said the airline would focus on serving cities that saw high travel request.

“Garuda is still able to deploy its fleets to markets with large resources,” Arif told reporters in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Thursday.

The carrier plans to deploy 22 Airbus 330 aeroplanes to serve several routes, with almost half of the fleet to be directed to China and the Middle East. Six of the assigned aircraft will be dedicated to serving umroh (minor haj) and haj pilgrimages from outside Jakarta, particularly from Balikpapan in East Kalimantan, Makassar in South Sulawesi, Surabaya in East Java and Medan in North Sumatra.

“Currently we are as well assessing Solo [Surakarta] in Central Java [as a potential point of haj departure] and testing the market in Medina, Saudi Arabia, as well,” he said.

The airline would as well open new routes connecting Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai in China with Denpasar, Bali, next year, he said.

Data from the company show that Garuda Indonesia transported around 17.69 million passengers during this year’s initial nine months, a 13.62 % increase year-on-time(yoy) from last year.

Of that number, 3.18 million passengers traveled on international routes, a 9.7 % yoy increase.

The company booked stagnant revenue of US$2.85 billion as of September from last year’s $2.83
billion. However, its net profits soared 122.55 % to $50.13 million from the $222.30 million losses it booked as of September last year.

Its cost of goods sold fell 9.44 % to $2.78 billion from $3.07 billion during the same period last year.

Currency depreciation and fierce competition, Arif said, had caused his firm’s yield or average airfare to slide, affecting its narrow revenue increase despite the impressive net profits.

He added that most Asia-Pacific airlines under the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) were facing similar problems.

According to the association’s data, revenues of airlines regionally dropped 2.1 % yoy during this year’s initial nine month to $82.7 billion. Meanwhile, net profits skyrocketed 211.11 % to $3 billion.

AAPA, which was established in 1966 in Manila, currently has 16 members inclunding Asiana Airlines, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Royal Brunei Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Singapore Airlines.

Garuda Indonesia, which joined the association in 1967, hosted the group’s 59th Assembly of Presidents in Nusa Dua from Nov. 12 to 13.

During the assembly, AAPA members discussed and sought resolutions to several issues hampering industry evolution, such as safety, airspace risk assessment, aviation infrastructure, consumer protection and taxes and charges.

Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan, who officially opened the assembly on Thursday, said that his ministry was committed to improving transportation safety and upgrading related infrastructure.

“The Transportation Ministry has allocated around $1 billion of national funds to safety development,” he said, adding that his ministry would as well upgrade airports in the country so that they could serve wide-body aircraft by 2018.

Recently, the ministry instructed national-run airport operator Angkasa Pura II to reschedule flights during busy hours.