Garuda changes routes to better efficiency
JAKARTA (JP): National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has restructured its international and domestic flight routes for the winter season (October-March) in a bid to improve its efficiency and service.
Garuda's commercial director Sudarso Kaderi said yesterday the restructuring would result in the reduction of flight frequencies to several destinations and the stoppage of services to several others.
He said Garuda would stop flight services to Amman, Abu Dhabi, Rome, Zurich, Beijing, Ho Chi Minh City and Kaohsiung from Oct. 28 to the end of March, 1998.
"However, we will continue to serve these routes through alliances with foreign airlines," Sudarso said.
"This does not mean we are closing the routes. Our objective is operating in the most efficient manner," he added.
The restructuring, he added, was prompted by the delay in the delivery of several new jetliners such as Boeing-737-500 and Boeing 737-300 and MD-11 of the extended range version to Garuda.
Garuda will form partnerships with Alitalia for the service to Rome, with Swissair to Zurich, with Southern China Airlines to Beijing and Kaohsiung and with Vietnam Air to Saigon.
The alliances would take the form of either code sharing or block space, he said.
"For example, we will be allocated 20 seats on Alitalia per flight or 6,000 seats a year for Rome," he said.
Garuda passengers bound to Rome have so far averaged only about 5,700 a year, he said.
Garuda will fly from Jakarta to Bangkok and Alitalia will connect the Bangkok-Rome route, Sudarso said.
The frequency of the Jakarta-Bangkok flights would be increased to three times a week from twice currently, he added.
Garuda would also reduce the number of its flights on some routes. The Denpasar-Kuala Lumpur and the Denpasar-Taipei services would be reduced to three times a week from four times and the flights to Dhahran would be doubled to twice a week.
The Jakarta-Denpasar service will also be reduced to 66 times a week from 81 times and the Denpasar-Jakarta flights to 69 times from 92 times a week.
"Due to the delay in the delivery of the new airplanes, we have to operate a medium range aircraft for short distance routes, which means higher operation costs," he said.
The airline will increase its flights to Frankfurt to seven times a week from five. Four of the seven flights would be direct flights, Sudarso said.
Garuda would also expand it service to Amsterdam to six flights from five a week, Saudi Arabia to seven from six and Seoul to seven from five, he said.
Garuda's Jakarta-Surabaya-Jakarta, Jakarta-Singapore-Jakarta, Surabaya-Denpasar-Surabaya and Surabaya-Hong Kong-Taipei routes would be increased by one flight, he said.
But Garuda will reroute some services. The Jakarta-Denpasar- Sydney-Melbourne-Denpasar-Jakarta route will be changed into Jakarta-Sydney-Melbourne-Denpasar-Jakarta.
The four-times a week Surabaya-Singapore-Kuala Lumpur flight will be divided into Surabaya-Singapore service four times a week and Surabaya-Kuala Lumpur three times a week.
Sudarso said the airline would use the B-747-400 aircraft for European destinations and the MD-11 for the United States, the Middle East and most Australian destinations.
The airline will operate A-330-300, B747-200 and DC-10 aircraft for Asian routes and the B-737, DC-10, and A-300-B4 for regional routes. Domestic flights will use B737, A-300-B4, DC-10 and F-28.
Sudarso said the airline would promote business passengers on its Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo flights as this market was more promising for growth.
Sudarso also announced yesterday Garuda's plan to lead other domestic carriers to form an alliance and strengthen their competitiveness against foreign airlines. (das)
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