Garuda to lease up to 15 new aircraft in 2004 to boost flights

P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has leased two extra aircraft and plans to lease another eight to 13 planes this year to support their domestic and regional operations.

"The two planes arrived in December 2003 and were added to our fleet to strengthen the operation of Citilink, which so far operates only five F-28 aircraft," Indra Setiawan, the president director of Garuda Indonesia, said as quoted by Antara.

Citilink Garuda was launched in 2001 as Garuda's domestic budget service and is expected to boost the company's profits.

Speaking about this year's target, Indra said they hoped that Garuda could attract 12 percent to 15 percent of 20 million total domestic passengers estimated by the Transportation Agency.

Garuda Indonesia's spokesman, Pujobroto told The Jakarta Post on Friday that all the new aircraft were leased by the company to meet the expected demand for this year.

He added that in order to fulfill the market demand, the company planned to operate three aircraft types, the Boeing 737 series for short-haul flights, DC10-30 and Airbus 330-300 for medium-haul flights and Boeing 747-200 and Boeing 747-400 for long-haul flights.

However, he would not say what company Garuda was leasing the planes from or what the cost was.

Pujobroto also said that in the long term, Garuda has planned to restructure its fleet of aircraft to make it "simple" in line with its planned focus on domestic and regional short-haul flights. He, however, did not elaborate on what he meant by "simple"

He also said that Garuda would strive hard to improve services, including comfort, safety and hospitality. "The flight business is not just about delivering people to their destinations, but to also make them comfortable and to help them enjoy their journey."

Garuda's total current fleet comprises 54 aircraft which serve 21 domestic destinations and 22 international flights.