GARUDA ADDITIONS:

GARUDA ADDITIONS:

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is adding six new B-737 aircraft to its fleet to rejuvenate its operations. They arrived at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta on Saturday. They include five 104-seat B-737-300s and one 92-seat B-737-500.

The aircraft were officially handed over by State Minister of the Empowerment of State Enterprises Tanri Abeng to Garuda Indonesia president Abdul Gani. The batch is the second and last delivery of the 11 B-737s ordered by Garuda from Boeing Commercial Airplane Group. The companies signed a sale-purchase contract at Indonesia Air Show 1996. Garuda plans to operate the new airplanes on domestic and regional routes. With the arrival of the six aircraft, Garuda now operates 40 aircraft: three B-747- 400s, six A-330-300s, five DC-10-30s, seven B-737-400s, nine B- 737-300s, five B-737-500, two F-28MK4000s and three F-28MK3000s.

Garuda serves 121 routes a day, consisting of 92 domestic and 29 international routes, with destinations in Asia, Europe, Australia and Middle East. (alx/29)