As previously reported (story here), Garuda Indonesia has cancelled plans to fly direct to London Gatwick from Jakarta. It will instead serve the UK capital via Amsterdam, which it will serve with a direct service from May 30 onwards. Garuda currently flies to Amsterdam with a stopover at Abu Dhabi.
The London leg will be flown by the same aircraft as a tag flight, instead of being a codeshare service with an airline partner. But Garuda cannot start doing so until September 8 as it has been unable to secure ideal slot timings at Gatwick over the summer period.
President and chief executive of Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar, has stated that the Jakarta-Amsterdam non-stop service is also the result of the carrier’s entry into the Skyteam alliance earlier this month (see here).
“Following Garuda’s official joining of Skyteam, the opportunities presented by the established Skyteam hub at Amsterdam are too significant to pass up, as it will be an alternative gateway for passengers who wish to travel beyond Europe. They will be able to choose from 1,064 destinations in 178 countries served by the Skyteam member airlines,” he said.
Garuda will operate the Jakarta-Amsterdam and Jakarta-Amsterdam-London service five times a week with the airline’s Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
For more information, visit www.garuda-indonesia.com
Clement Huang