Garuda to open new Asian routes

Garuda to open new Asian routes

Agence France-Presse, Jakarta

Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia on Tuesday announced plans to boost its summer schedule despite a recent slump in business due to the war in Iraq and the outbreak of the deadly SARS virus.

Garuda expects an improved business climate in the middle of the year and will open several new Asian routes and increase flight frequencies to Shanghai, Singapore and Guangzhou.

The new routes, which will start in June, are Jakarta-Hong Kong, Surabaya-Singapore-Hong Kong, Surabaya-Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta-Bangkok and Jakarta-Singapore-Beijing.

Garuda said in a statement it would increase frequencies and reopen routes to Europe, Australia and Japan which were closed after last October's Bali bombing.

Flights on the Jakarta-Singapore-Amsterdam route will be increased from three to four times a week starting June 1.

The Denpasar-Jakarta-Tokyo route has been increased from five to seven flights weekly starting March 30.

Flights on the Denpasar-Brisbane-Auckland route have been increased from two to three times a week starting March 30.

Flights to a number of other destinations have also been increased.

Garuda said passenger numbers on the Middle East route fell 30 percent while those on flights to Hong Kong and Singapore dropped 20 percent due to the war in Iraq and the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).