MAS, Garuda to promote air travel
MAS, Garuda to promote air travel
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia Airlines and Garuda Indonesia announced a tie-up
Thursday to jointly promote air travel between the two countries
in a move to boost tourism.
A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed in the northern
resort island of Langkawi by Malaysia Airlines' managing director
Mohamad Nor Yusof and Garuda's president and chief executive
Abdul Gani.
It covered cooperation in sales and marketing, inflight
services, ground handling, flight operations, information
technology and aircraft maintenance, the flag carriers said in a
joint statement.
The statement said cooperation between the two airlines was
not new as they had already been working together under a code-
share and joint freighter arrangement on flights between the two
countries.
"Through this joint cooperation, Malaysia Airlines and Garuda
would enhance the existing code-share arrangement to cover
domestic travel," it said.
"This will facilitate air travel between cities in Malaysia
and Indonesia, which are not served by direct flights.
"Both airlines would also enhance the existing joint freighter
arrangement to cover more sectors between the two countries and
facilitate air cargo movement beyond Malaysia and Indonesia to
other countries."
The airlines would also embark on joint marketing and
promotions to support the Malaysian and Indonesian governments'
efforts to promote air travel between the countries.
"Considering the continued increase in aviation cost, the
joint cooperation would help Malaysia Airlines and Garuda to be
more cost effective" through pooling of resources, it added.
Malaysia Airlines' Mohamad Nor was quoted as saying by Bernama
news agency that the airlines could tap new opportunities in the
region and explore how they could provide more efficient
services.
He said the Malaysian carrier had recently increased its
frequencies to Jakarta to 20 flights weekly from 14 previously.
The two carriers were now exploring very basic cooperation
such as bringing in tourists from Europe, America and Asian
countries, he said.
"In terms of our marketing programs, both national carriers
will have a close package for those long haul passengers apart
from developing destinations such as Langkawi and Bali," he
added.