Garuda, MAS ink code-share pact<\/p>\n
Fitri Wulandari, The Jakarta Post, Kuala Lumpur<\/p>\n
Garuda Indonesia Airways and Malaysian Airlines (MAS) have
\ninked a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to expand their
\ncooperation in a bid to recover their operations amid a weakening
\nmarket in the air traffic industry.<\/p>\n
The MOU was signed last Thursday, as both airlines are still
\nstruggling to weather the impact of the Sept. 11 terrorist
\nattack, the Oct. 12 Bali bombing, the recent war in Iraq and the
\noutbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).<\/p>\n
Under the MOU, the airlines agreed to expand their previous
\ncode-share agreement into \"a third country code share agreement\",
\nincluding flights to Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom.
\nThe previous code-share agreement of both airlines only covered
\nflights from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar and
\nMedan, and vice versa.<\/p>\n
A code-share agreement is a cooperation between two or more
\nairlines that allows one airline to market the service of other
\nairlines.<\/p>\n
The MOU was signed by MAS senior general manager of sales,
\ndistribution and marketing Dato' Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan and Garuda
\ncommercial director Bachrul Hakim.<\/p>\n
Bachrul said the MOU was significant in light of weak market
\nconditions.<\/p>\n
\"With the situation we are facing together, Garuda and MAS
\nmade the cooperation into a more concrete business strategy by
\nconcentrating on the European, Southeast Asian and Australian
\nmarkets,\" he remarked.<\/p>\n
Starting next month, MAS and Garuda will jointly operate the
\nfollowing routes: Kuala Lumpur-London, six times a week; Kuala
\nLumpur-Frankfurt, seven times a week; and Denpasar-Darwin, two
\ntimes a week.<\/p>\n
Garuda has the right to sell 60 seats per flight on MAS
\nflights from Kuala Lumpur to London and to Frankfurt, while MAS
\ncan sell 35 seats per flight on Garuda flights from Denpasar to
\nDarwin.<\/p>\n
Bachrul said Garuda hoped the code-share agreement would help
\nrecover its European market. Garuda was forced to suspend flights
\nto Europe early this year as the number of passengers declined in
\nthe aftermath of the Bali bombing and the outbreak of SARS.<\/p>\n
Garuda has recently revised downward its net profit target for
\nthis year to between Rp 150 billion to Rp 170 billion from Rp 520
\nbillion.<\/p>\n
\"The European market is very important for us. The difficult
\ncondition we are now experiencing financially is partly caused by
\nthe lower number of European passengers,\" Bachrul said.<\/p>\n
He added that the agreement will be expanded in future to
\ncover France, Italy and Switzerland.<\/p>\n
Dato' Ahmad said that with the expanded code-share agreement,
\nMAS hoped to bring more than 1,500 passengers from London and
\nFrankfurt, as well as some 500 passengers from Darwin, within the
\nfirst three months. Meanwhile, Garuda hoped to carry 60,000
\npassengers from London and Frankfurt annually.<\/p>\n
Both airlines have also agreed to expand their flight services
\nbetween Indonesia and Malaysia.<\/p>\n
In July, MAS will commence flights from Kinabalu and Kuching
\nto Balikpapan, East Kalimantan, while Garuda is to open a
\nSurabaya-Kuala Lumpur route.<\/p>\n
Like Garuda, MAS was not spared the impact of SARS, and its
\nload factor plunged to 50 percent in May, forcing the airline to
\ntemporarily reduce its flights to SARS-affected areas.<\/p>\n
However, Dato' Ahmad said MAS had been seeing some signs of
\nrecovery, as its load factor was now edging the 60 percent mark.
\nPrior to the SARS outbreak, MAS had a load factor of 75 percent.<\/p>\n
Aside from the agreement with MAS, Garuda also has code-share
\nagreements with China Southern Airline, China Airline, Qatar
\nAirways, Korean Air, Philippine Airline and Silk Air.<\/p>",
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