Garuda Indonesia continues its Asia-Pacific expansion with firm announcements regarding the Denpasar (Bali)-Haneda and Jakarta-Taipei routes.
The Bali-Haneda flights will operate five times per week using an Airbus 330-300, commencing April 28. Flight GA886 will depart Bali at 1500 arriving in Tokyo at 2300 on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday; return flight GA887 will take off from Haneda at 0100 to reach Bali at 0700 on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Jakarta-Taipei route will commence on May 19, operating daily on a Boeing 737-800. It will depart Jakarta at 2345 and arrive in Taipei at 0615. The return flight will depart at 0950, arriving in the Indonesian capital at 1410.
The airline expects to join the Skyteam alliance by the end of the year and flying to Taipei will eventually allow the airline to tap into routes further afield that are covered by partner airlines, such as Los Angeles, said a spokesperson.
In addition, the Jakarta-Hong Kong flight, GA876, was recently changed to a night flight to encourage business travellers to chose the airline. The flight now departs at 2350 arriving in Hong Kong at 0550.
Garuda also hopes to introduce its “Immigration On Board” service for flights from Hong Kong to Indonesia by the end of the year. Launched on the airline's Tokyo-Denpasar-Jakarta route in February last year, the programme offers those who need a visa to enter Indonesia the option to purchase “Visa on Arrival” at Garuda's check-in counters. On the flight, immigration officers conduct passport checks and issue “Visa on Arrival”, saving the passenger from having to queue up for the visa when arriving in Indonesia. Currently this service is available for flights to Indonesia from Japan, South Korea, mainland China and Australia.
All these changes are part of the airline’s “Quantum Leap” plan, which also includes increasing its fleet from 89 to 194 aircraft by 2015 as well as the recruitment of 400 new pilots by 2015. In addition it hopes to increase annual passenger numbers to 45 million in the next three years. In 2011, the airline carried 17.1 million passengers.
Vicki Williams
