Garuda plans second hub

Garuda plans second hub

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National airline PT Garuda Indonesia was preparing a second
hub in Denpasar, Bali for its international flights, in addition
to its existing Jakarta hub focused on domestic destinations, a
senior executive said.

Garuda's director of operations Rudy A. Hardono said that the
Denpasar hub was developed for international flights because for
several years now foreigners visiting Indonesia had been
reluctant to disembark in Jakarta due to security reasons.

"In catering to that trend, Garuda provides direct
international flights to Denpasar, and to make it more efficient
we have also made Denpasar our international hub," he said.

Rudy said that, from the Denpasar hub, Garuda would service 21
international routes from Japan, Australia, and Europe, and that
the hub would eventually become the base for around 200 cabin
crew.

"If we don't make Denpasar our hub, we have to transport cabin
crew to and from Jakarta, which is quite expensive," he said.

A hub is an airline's center of activity, from where the
airline centralizes its services before flying to other
destinations.

Separately, Garuda's president Abdulgani said that the airline
would reopen two more routes next month in a bid to gradually
open up the 16 international routes closed during the economic
crisis in 1998.

He said that flights to Guangzhou, China would be reintroduced
on Dec. 8, with flights to Taipei to return on Dec. 10. Both
flights would depart from Denpasar.

Garuda's vice president for revenue management Agus Priyanto
said that Garuda was focusing on its domestic and Asia-Pacific
routes, and therefore had focused on reopening routes within the
region.

Garuda has reopened flights to Singapore from Surabaya, Seoul
from Jakarta, and Fukuoka from Denpasar.

As yet, it has no plans to reopen further routes.