Garuda and Northwest set up alliance

JAKARTA (JP): National air carrier Garuda Indonesia has set up an alliance with the United States' Northwest Airlines in a bid to improve services.

Northwest's managing director for Southeast Asia and greater China, James P. Reinnoldt, said here yesterday that through the alliance his company could serve Indonesia without even flying here.

"Based on a commercial cooperation agreement signed by Northwest and Garuda, the two airlines will coordinate schedules and connections between flight networks linking points in Indonesia with points in the United States," he said during a workshop here yesterday.

The alliance, the first of its kind between an American and Indonesian air carrier, included code-share flights, world perks Frequent Fliers Program (FFP) cooperation, seat purchase programs, promotional cooperation and reciprocal handling programs, he said.

He said some details still had to be finalized before the official operation began. It is expected to commence later this year.

Reinnoldt said that any alliance between airlines would benefit the participating airlines.

"In our case, Garuda's FFP will be more competitive than any other airline as they can combine Northwest's FFP."

Alliances between airlines have became a trend in the aviation industry to create synergy in cost savings, market access, product development, route expansion and schedule coordination, he said.

"There are currently over 300 alliances, involving 160 airlines," he said.

Northwest originally planned to fly to Jakarta via Osaka. The service, which should have commenced in July last year, was canceled due to an unsettled aviation dispute between Japan and the United States.

Hundreds of passengers from Jakarta to Osaka had to be diverted by Northwest to Garuda after the cancellation.

Talks between Japan and the U.S. continue.

"Air fares in Japan are very expensive and Japan is very protective of its domestic industry," Reinnoldt said when asked why the talks were so time consuming.

Northwest would like to serve Indonesia via Osaka as the Japanese city is one of the American carrier's hubs. From there passengers can fly to Seattle, New York, Washington, Detroit, Los Angeles or Honolulu.

Reinnoldt said his company had won approval from Indonesia and the U.S. to fly four times a week to Jakarta.

Garuda flies from Jakarta to Los Angeles, via Honolulu, five times a week. The national carrier also flies to four Japanese cities: Nagoya, Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka.

Reinnoldt said yesterday that Northwest, which flies only to Manila, Bangkok and Singapore in Southeast Asia, also proposed flying to Kuala Lumpur. (icn)