Garuda slashes routes, flights

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National flag carrier Garuda has temporarily reduced and ceased several flights, mainly on international routes, due to drops in the number of passengers after the bombing in Bali.

"Garuda has applied a contingency plan from Nov. 16, 2002 to March 29, 2003 as part of efforts to increase Garuda's performance by redesigning more competitive services after the Bali tragedy," the company said in its release made available to The Jakarta Post.

Garuda's international flights bore the brunt of the Bali bombing as 60 to 70 percent of its flights head to or depart from Denpasar, Bali. The airline was hit with a 40 percent drop in the number of passengers after the bombing that killed 190 people mostly foreign tourists on Oct. 12.

The contingency plans include changing the type of aircraft, changing flight routes, adding flight frequency on potential routes, reducing flight frequency and gradually ceasing flights on other routes, the release said.

All changes went into effect on Saturday Nov. 16.

For international flights, Garuda has temporarily ceased its flights to several routes in Europe, Australia and Japan, which are the company's main markets.

To Australia, Garuda has temporarily ceased direct flights from Denpasar to Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide. It has combined flights to Melbourne and Sydney into one flight route, five times a week.

Flights to Perth have been cut from seven to five times weekly.

Australia and New Zealand were Garuda's main international markets with some 16 flights a week from Denpasar to six cities in Australia and New Zealand before the bomb blast.

While to Japan, Garuda's second largest international market, Garuda reduced flights from Denpasar to Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.

Garuda has ceased flights from Denpasar to Fukuoka and cut flights from Denpasar to Seoul from three times a day to two. Prior to the bombing, Garuda flew 13 times weekly to four cities in Japan and Korea.

It will gradually cease operations to Europe where the airline flies to London, Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

For Frankfurt, Garuda has temporarily stopped its flight.

As for London, Garuda will reduce its current three times a week flight to two until it temporarily ceases all flights to the city effective from Jan. 5 to March 29, 2003.

For Amsterdam, Garuda will temporarily cease its current three times a week flights from Jan. 22 to Feb. 20, 2003. The flights will resume to normal after Feb. 20 to March 29.

Schedules on the Singapore-Denpasar route remain unchanged, but Garuda has switched to smaller aircraft on the route. Previously, the route was served by an Airbus A-330 with 293 seats but now it is served by a Boeing B 737-400 with 124 seats.

The airlines also made several changes on domestic routes by scrapping two of four flights from Denpasar to Yogyakarta per day. Flights from Denpasar to Makassar, South Sulawesi were halved to just one a day.

With declining international passengers to Bali, several foreign airlines have reduced their flights to the island as well.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) temporarily reduced its four daily flights to Denpasar to three on Nov. 1.

Before the bombing, SIA's average load factor was between 80 to 90 percent but has taken a nose dive down to 20 percent.

"After very careful consideration, our head office has decided to take necessary steps of adjusting our frequency to better meet the current demand on the Bali route," Glory Henriette, SIA Indonesia's assistant public relations manager said.

Meanwhile, state-owned airlines company Merpati said that all flights to and from Denpasar have been running normal without a significant drop in passengers.

Serving mainly domestic routes, the Oct. 12 tragedy only slightly affected Merpati.

"So far, everything is normal. The number of passenger only dropped around 10 percent but now has returned to normal," Yanine Helga Waroka, Merpati's spokeswoman said.