Garuda Indonesia allies Northwest

JAKARTA (JP): State-owned airline Garuda Indonesia will ally Northwest Airlines of the United States, breaking new ground in aviation cooperation between the two countries.

Northwest's office in Singapore stated yesterday the two airlines had signed an agreement to set up an alliance to share codes on each other's flights across the Pacific and around the United States, and to jointly undertake marketing, sales and promotional and frequent flyer programs.

Garuda and Northwest will also combine their computer reservation systems and coordinate their schedules and connections between their flight networks linking Indonesia with destinations in the United States and Canada.

"Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and has one of the fastest growing economies," said Michael E. Levine, Northwest's executive vice president of marketing.

"The proposed commercial cooperation agreement between Northwest and Garuda will enhance travel services for business and leisure travelers."

The two airlines will also help each other by setting up "through airport passenger check-in and seamless service including down-line seat assignments, boarding passes and document checks".

"We are pleased to enter a partnership with the leading U.S. airline serving Asia," Garuda director of operations Dharmadi said.

Northwest had planned to begin flying to Jakarta early this year as an extension of its Seattle-Osaka service. But the Jakarta service has been delayed twice because of an unsettled air traffic dispute between the U.S. and Japan.

Indonesia is in Northwest's long-term growth plan for Asia. Northwest is the largest U.S. carrier in the U.S.-Japan market. It serves 14 destinations in the Asia-Pacific. (icn)