Garuda adds Osaka to its Japanese service

Garuda adds Osaka to its Japanese service

JAKARTA (JP): Garuda Indonesia, the national air carrier,
starts serving the Jakarta-Denpasar-Osaka route three times a
week today as part of its strategy to boost the number of
Japanese tourists.

Totok Sugiarto, head of Garuda's marketing division, told
reporters here yesterday that the new route, which will be served
with MD-11 aircraft, will increase the airline's number of
flights to Japan from 15 to 18 a week.

He said that Garuda's existing Japanese service, consisting of
routes to Tokyo, Nagoya and Fukuoka, last year contributed 24
percent of its total number of foreign passengers, or 2,687,436.

"We expect that the Osaka route will increase the contribution
to about 26 percent of the total number of foreign passengers,"
Totok said.

He also said that during the January-June period, the number
of Garuda's foreign passengers reached 1,401,574, including
252,406 coming from Japan and South Korea.

Garuda Indonesia last year generated Rp 264.13 billion
(US$121.8 million) in profit, of which 70 percent came from
international services.

Totok also said that Garuda plans to adopt a "floating price"
policy for the Osaka route, in which the airline will closely
follow the market. (hdj)