Garuda reopens routes to Ho Chi Minh, Beijing

Sari P. Setiogi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After being inactive since the 1997 financial crisis, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will resume services to Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, and Beijing.

Starting early December, Garuda will fly the Jakarta-Singapore-Ho Chi Minh City route five times a week, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays, with a flight capacity of 134 passengers, Garuda's head of communications Pudjobroto said in a statement on Thursday.

Currently, people from Indonesia have to fly Singapore Airlines or Vietnam Airlines to go to Ho Chi Minh City. Singapore Airlines flies seven times a week from Jakarta to Ho Chi Minh City via Singapore, while Vietnam Airlines flies 12 times a week from Singapore to the Vietnamese city.

Pudjobroto said the Jakarta-Singapore-Ho Chi Minh City service had been demonstrating a positive trend over the past three years.

The number of passengers from Jakarta to Ho Chi Minh City grew 30 percent over the period with total passengers this year predicted to reach 17,492. Meanwhile, passengers from Singapore to the city has grown by 10 percent annually with the total number of travelers expected to reach 105,905 this year.

Vietnam, which is famous for its textiles and chemical industry, and rice, rubber and sugar production, also holds prospects for business.

During the first five months of this year, Indonesian exports to Vietnam reached US$147.9 million, while imports reached $280.2 million.

The tourism sector in Vietnam is also growing significantly, attracting about 2.6 million visitors from across the globe last year.

Last June, the Indonesian government together with the Vietnamese government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on a free-visa policy for visitors from both countries.

The MOU is expected to encourage tourism between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the direct flight from Jakarta to Beijing will be available three times a week starting early next year, said Pudjobroto. Each flight will have a capacity of 293 passengers.

At the moment, Garuda flies three times a week to Shanghai and Guangzhou.