Indonesia's national airline, Garuda Indonesia, has announced a new Singapore-Balikpapan-Makassar service from July 27 onwards. With this addition, Garuda will operate nearly 70 weekly flights from Singapore to four Indonesian destinations including Bali, Jakarta and Makassar.
Known as the oil city of Indonesia, Balikpapan is in a resource-rich region on the eastern coast of the island of Borneo. Surrounded by natural beauty – including marine life, coral reefs, wildlife and plants – the city is an attractive destination for adventure travellers. Balikpapan is also an up-and-coming hub for business travellers as the seaport city is in an advantageous location for gas and oil exports, said Nicodemus Lampe, vice president of Asia area for Garuda Indonesia. Based on passenger traffic, the carrier has observed a 20 per cent year-on-year rise in domestic demand for air travel between Makassar and Balikpapan, a spokesperson of Garuda said.
The new four weekly flights will be on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, and will be operated by a B737-500. The services will depart Changi Airport Terminal 3 at 1400 and arrive in Balikpapan Sepinggan International Airport at 1625. The aircraft will continue on to Makassar at 1715 for a 1820 arrival. The return flight will take off at Sultan Hasanuddin International Airport at 0855 to arrive at Balikpapan at 1005, depart for Singapore at 1055 and touch down at 1310.
The B737-500 can accommodate 12 passengers in its executive class, and 84 in economy.
Promotional fares start from S$250 (US$199) for advance purchase for the Singapore-Balikpapan route, starting today until July 31.
For more information, visit www.garuda-indonesia.com.
Michelle Fong
