Garuda plans to fly to India, U.S., Philippines

Rendi A. Witular, Jakarta

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia plans to open a new route to India, and reopen routes to the United States and the Philippines in the near future, to tap passengers amid growing business activities between Indonesia and the three particular countries.

Garuda commercial and marketing director Bachrul Hakim said that currently the airline was in the process of conducting feasibility study for the three routes, in order to gain maximum results in the investment for the routes.

"We are studying the possibility of flying to India, the United States and the Philippines next year because the destinations are deemed potential, due to growing business activities between Indonesia and the three countries," said Bachrul, after a ceremony to mark a cooperation between the airline and Bank Danamon on Wednesday.

Bachrul explained that Garuda was eyeing four cities in India for its maiden flight, including New Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, and Manila for the Philippines. As for the United States, the airline had yet to decide the city, possibly Honolulu, Los Angeles or New York.

"We are still studying whether the passenger load for the routes can consistently maintain 60 percent per flight, at least, for Garuda to feasibly serve them," he said.

Garuda once flew to the United States, stopping at Honolulu and Los Angeles. However, the airline scrapped the flight in 1994 due to the low passenger load factor, causing losses for the airline.

For the same cause, Garuda also stopped serving the route to Manila in 1998.

Garuda spokesman Pudjobroto said the airline would not need to gain licenses to start serving the routes, since Indonesia had already signed agreements with the three countries for the commercial flight licenses.

"The licenses are already available with the three countries. But for the United States, we still need licenses from other countries, such as Japan, for the stopover because its a long flight," said Pudjobroto.

Garuda's current fleet comprises 54 aircraft serving 21 domestic and 22 international destinations. International operations account for 55 percent of Garuda's revenue, while domestic operations account for 45 percent.

Elsewhere, regarding Garuda's preparation to anticipate a boom in passengers during Idul Fitri, Christmas and New Year holidays in November and December, Pudjobroto said the airline would increase its loading capacity by between 20 percent and 30 percent.

The additional flights will be allocated for hectic domestic routes, such as between Jakarta and Solo, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, Denpasar, Padang and Palembang. As for international destinations, the airline will provide extra flights to routes between Jakarta and Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong.

Garuda has set the peak season for Idul Fitri holidays -- which falls on Nov. 15 and Nov. 16 -- from Nov. 11 until Nov. 22, while for Christmas and New Year holidays from Dec. 22 until Jan. 3, 2005.