Garuda operates 55 extra flights during holidays

JAKARTA (JP): National air carrier Garuda Indonesia will operate 55 extra flights from Jakarta to three overseas and five domestic destinations to anticipate an increase in passengers during the Christmas and New Year's holidays.

Garuda said the extra flights would occur from Dec. 22 until Jan. 5.

The airline said over the weekend the additional flights, offering 17,222 seats, included services to Singapore, Auckland, Brisbane, Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Semarang, Surabaya and Denpasar.

Garuda said that it would also serve 61 extra flights from Jakarta between Jan. 22 and Feb. 6, during the Chinese New Year and Idul Fitri.

The airline would provide extra flights with 13,470 seats to Denpasar, Yogyakarta, Surakarta, Pontianak, Semarang, Padang, Palembang and Ampenan.

"We have decided to operate extra flights to the destinations based on demand and our experience during the same peak season last year," the company said.

Garuda has also doubled its service from Jakarta to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, to two daily flights, which began last Saturday, the company's manager in Banjarmasin, Husni Hamzah, said as quoted by Antara news agency.

In a related development, Garuda launched the Garuda Bali Package Friday, a tour package promoting the country's prominent tourist island of Bali.

Director General of Tourism Andi Mappi Sammeng said the package was introduced to encourage domestic tourists to travel to Bali.

"We hope more people want to go to Bali instead of traveling abroad," he said.

He said Garuda had tried to attract more passengers by offering the two-night package in Bali worth Rp 800,000.

"But I think the rate is less competitive. The economy is not very conducive, so the package should have ideally ranged between Rp 200,000 and Rp 400,000," Antara quoted Andi as saying.

He said to offer such reasonable rates, non-star rated hotels must be involved in the package. (icn)