Garuda suspends Europe service

Garuda suspends Europe service

Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

The country's flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia will temporarily
suspend its service from the tourist island of Bali to Frankfurt
and London due to a sharp decline in the number of passengers
using the service, according to a company executive.

Garuda vice president for market planning and development
Marco Umbas said on Monday that the airline would close the route
for five months starting Feb. 5 until June this year.

He admitted that currently the company could no longer sustain
the service as passenger volume was too low.

"We can't maintain a business which causes financial loses.
The flights are no longer profitable as the income from the
flights can't cover direct operating costs," Marco told reporters
on the sidelines of the 2002 Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) Tourism Forum (ATF) in Yogyakarta.

He said, however, that Garuda would resume the flights
in early July as it was expected that more European tourists
would wish to fly to Bali at that time.

He explained that flights to Europe were no longer profitable
following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Elsewhere, Marco said that Garuda was planning to raise its
flight frequency on the more promising China route.

Although Bali is the most popular tourist destination in
Indonesia, it has also borne the brunt of the Sept. 11 attacks as
many potential visitors avoid traveling to Muslim countries.

Only 1.3 million foreigners visited Bali in 2001, a 3 percent
decline on 2000 figures, according to the Bali Tourism Office.

Arrivals from the U.S. and Europe showed the largest declines.

Meanwhile, head of the country's tourism and cultural board
Setyanto P. Santoso said that the government would discuss
further the possibility of providing a subsidy for Garuda in
order to maintain the service to Frankfurt and London.

Setyanto, however, said that prior to granting the subsidy,
the government would first audit the management of Garuda.

The decision to suspend the service to two major European
cities has also sparked criticism from travel agencies as Garuda
is seen as an important air carrier for transporting European
tourists to Indonesia.