Garuda slashes routes, flights<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
National flag carrier Garuda has temporarily reduced and
\nceased several flights, mainly on international routes, due to
\ndrops in the number of passengers after the bombing in Bali.<\/p>\n
\"Garuda has applied a contingency plan from Nov. 16, 2002 to
\nMarch 29, 2003 as part of efforts to increase Garuda's
\nperformance by redesigning more competitive services after the
\nBali tragedy,\" the company said in its release made available to
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
Garuda's international flights bore the brunt of the Bali
\nbombing as 60 to 70 percent of its flights head to or depart from
\nDenpasar, Bali. The airline was hit with a 40 percent drop in the
\nnumber of passengers after the bombing that killed 190 people
\nmostly foreign tourists on Oct. 12.<\/p>\n
The contingency plans include changing the type of aircraft,
\nchanging flight routes, adding flight frequency on potential
\nroutes, reducing flight frequency and gradually ceasing flights
\non other routes, the release said.<\/p>\n
All changes went into effect on Saturday Nov. 16.<\/p>\n
For international flights, Garuda has temporarily ceased its
\nflights to several routes in Europe, Australia and Japan, which
\nare the company's main markets.<\/p>\n
To Australia, Garuda has temporarily ceased direct flights
\nfrom Denpasar to Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. It has
\ncombined flights to Melbourne and Sydney into one flight route,
\nfive times a week.<\/p>\n
Flights to Perth have been cut from seven to five times
\nweekly.<\/p>\n
Australia and New Zealand were Garuda's main international
\nmarkets with some 16 flights a week from Denpasar to six cities
\nin Australia and New Zealand before the bomb blast.<\/p>\n
While to Japan, Garuda's second largest international market,
\nGaruda reduced flights from Denpasar to Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.<\/p>\n
Garuda has ceased flights from Denpasar to Fukuoka and cut
\nflights from Denpasar to Seoul from three times a day to two.
\nPrior to the bombing, Garuda flew 13 times weekly to four cities
\nin Japan and Korea.<\/p>\n
It will gradually cease operations to Europe where the airline
\nflies to London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.<\/p>\n
For Frankfurt, Garuda has temporarily stopped its flight.<\/p>\n
As for London, Garuda will reduce its current three times a
\nweek flight to two until it temporarily ceases all flights to the
\ncity effective from Jan. 5 to March 29, 2003.<\/p>\n
For Amsterdam, Garuda will temporarily cease its current three
\ntimes a week flights from Jan. 22 to Feb. 20, 2003. The flights
\nwill resume to normal after Feb. 20 to March 29.<\/p>\n
Schedules on the Singapore-Denpasar route remain unchanged,
\nbut Garuda has switched to smaller aircraft on the route.
\nPreviously, the route was served by an Airbus A-330 with 293
\nseats but now it is served by a Boeing B 737-400 with 124 seats.<\/p>\n
The airlines also made several changes on domestic routes by
\nscrapping two of four flights from Denpasar to Yogyakarta per
\nday. Flights from Denpasar to Makassar, South Sulawesi were
\nhalved to just one a day.<\/p>\n
With declining international passengers to Bali, several
\nforeign airlines have reduced their flights to the island as
\nwell.<\/p>\n
Singapore Airlines (SIA) temporarily reduced its four daily
\nflights to Denpasar to three on Nov. 1.<\/p>\n
Before the bombing, SIA's average load factor was between 80
\nto 90 percent but has taken a nose dive down to 20 percent.<\/p>\n
\"After very careful consideration, our head office has decided
\nto take necessary steps of adjusting our frequency to better meet
\nthe current demand on the Bali route,\" Glory Henriette, SIA
\nIndonesia's assistant public relations manager said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, state-owned airlines company Merpati said that all
\nflights to and from Denpasar have been running normal without a
\nsignificant drop in passengers.<\/p>\n
Serving mainly domestic routes, the Oct. 12 tragedy only
\nslightly affected Merpati.<\/p>\n
\"So far, everything is normal. The number of passenger only
\ndropped around 10 percent but now has returned to normal,\" Yanine
\nHelga Waroka, Merpati's spokeswoman said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/garuda-slashes-routes-flights-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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