Garuda plans to start flights to India
Garuda plans to start flights to India
Vicki Kwong, Bloomberg/Hong Kong
PT Garuda Indonesia, the nation's largest airline, plans to start flights to India to tap rising travel to the world's second-most populous nation and expand overseas routes as it seeks to return to profit.
The Jakarta-based carrier plans to fly to India, with a stop in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, President Emirsyah Satar said in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
"We're talking to potential partners in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to operate those flights," he said in an interview. He declined to give further details.
Garuda, which posted its first loss in three years in 2004, is keen to fly to more destinations outside of Indonesia, where competition mounts with PT Lion Mentari Airlines, PT AWAir International and other low-fare carriers. The airline, which is seeking a government bailout, said in September it plans to fly to the cities of Mumbai, New Delhi and Calcutta in India where passenger growth is among the highest in Asia.
Rising incomes in India, Asia's fourth-biggest economy, are encouraging more people to travel abroad. The nation's passenger traffic is forecast to grow 8.4 percent each year until 2009, faster than a global average of 6.7 percent, according to the International Air Transport Association of 265 carriers.
Singapore-based discount carrier Jetstar Asia, which has combined with low-fare airline Valuair Ltd. also based in the city state, started flights to southern India's Bangalore last month, the first overseas low-cost airline to fly to the south Asian city. Tiger Airways Pte, the discount unit of Singapore Airlines Ltd., plans to fly to Calcutta in January next year.
State-owned Garuda is in talks with potential partners to restructure its Citilink unit, Emirsyah said. Citilink, which flies to nine domestic destinations, will continue to offer low fares to compete with discount carriers so that Garuda can focus on serving the premium market, he said.
"We hope we can finalize this sometime next year," he said, without giving details on the potential partners.
Garuda, whose board was sacked by the government in March to improve the carrier's performance, now flies to 21 cities in Indonesia and 22 overseas destinations including London, Sydney and Tokyo. The airline operates 51 Boeing Co. planes and six Airbus SAS aircraft.
The carrier will lease 10 Boeing 787-8 planes and 18 737- 800s to expand and modernize the fleet, it said on Sept. 16. The 223- seat 787-8 will be delivered to Garuda from 2011. The airline will begin operating the 737-800, which can carry 162 people in a two-class configuration, early next year.