Garuda to revamp international routes

Garuda to revamp international routes

JAKARTA (JP): Garuda Indonesia announced plans over the
weekend to revamp its fleet and make major route changes,
especially in serving Europe, in a bid to enhance its competitive
edge.

Garuda announced on Saturday that the plan is meant to improve
the airline's services, reduce the number of stopovers and
shorten the block time between one destination and another.

The plan is expected to improve cost-efficiency as well.

The rerouting includes changes in the number of flights per
week to destinations, such as Adelaide in Australia (twice a
week), Melbourne in Australia (six times a week), Nagoya in Japan
(five times a week), Singapore (60 times a week), Tokyo (seven
times a week), London (three times a week), Hong Kong (15 times a
week), Amsterdam (seven times a week), Bangkok (seven times a
week), Kaohsiung in Taiwan (once a week), Kuala Lumpur (15 times
a week), Los Angeles (five times a week) and Zurich in
Switzerland (twice a week).

Flights to Berlin, Vienna, Munich and Madrid will be postponed
until the winter of 1995-1996.

The announcement quoted the president of Garuda, Soepandi, as
saying that the rerouting -- which includes the elimination of
several flights to a number of destinations in Europe -- is "due
to the present circumstances of the airline business, in which
customers and competitors have become increasingly
unpredictable".

"The temporary removal of several routes does not mean that
Garuda is incapable of flying them, nor does it mean to
disappoint its customers, especially cargo-users, but is aimed at
boosting efficiency," Soepandi said.

To compensate for the lost routes, Garuda will conduct joint
flights with a number of foreign airlines, such as KLM of the
Netherlands, which already has strong connections to Europe and
America.

Long range

Soepandi said that Garuda also plans to make additions to its
long-range fleet to anticipate the increasing demand for direct
flights.

Direct flights, he said, would subsequently cut back ground
handling costs and landing fees which were "quite high" in
several places, such as Abu Dhabi and Honolulu.

Stopovers at Abu Dhabi, which currently reach 16 flights a
week, will be reduced to six times a week, he said.

Soepandi said that reducing stopovers would also cut back on
flight delays.

Garuda currently owns a total of 55 aircraft, among them being
10 A-300-600's, six MD-11's, three B-747-400's and eight B-737-
300's.

Garuda is currently negotiating for the purchase of three MD-
11's to add to its long-range fleet.

The number of passengers served by Garuda last year reached
5,589,525 people, lower than 6,888,288 in 1990, but higher than
5,077,379 in 1992.

Last June, Garuda reported an increase in its profit from
almost Rp 6.4 billion (US$2.9 million) in 1993 to Rp 191.2
billion last year.

Most of Garuda's revenues come from non-operational facilities
and services, such as the Garuda Maintenance Facility, which
brought in Rp 237.8 billion last year, indicating a 26 percent
increase from 1993. (pwn)