Garuda Indonesia allies Northwest

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)