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.