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