Punctuality award keeps Garuda's spirits flying sky-high

Punctuality award keeps Garuda's spirits flying sky-high

Ivy Susanti, The Jakarta Post, Amsterdam

Every cloud has a silver lining, goes the saying. And Garuda
Indonesia Airlines, the state-owned national carrier, has seen it
twice.

In mid-January, Garuda received its second consecutive
Punctuality Award from Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport here for
recording the fewest number of delays at the airport during 2001.
Finland's national carrier Finnair was granted the same honor.

Receiving the award was somewhat bittersweet, as Garuda
suffered an accident in Klaten, Central Java, the day after the
presentation.

According to PT Garuda Indonesia's general manager for
Benelux, Scandinavia, Finland and Switzerland, Djoko Judojono,
the honor came thanks to innovation and hard work.

"It's not easy to be on time, particularly when unusual events
take place," he said at a media briefing before the award
presentation at Schiphol.

"We have an example. On Dec. 30, when we were about to close
the plane door, a young man aged 26 suddenly burst into tears and
insisted on disembarking. It seems as easy as pie (to do), but
there was all the work that went with it, like unloading the
baggage ... so we had to delay (departure) for 30 minutes.

"Things like this happen all the time, and I think other
flights also experience the same thing."

Punctuality is a big issue in air travel, but in the real
world, technical and non-technical factors often make leaving on
time an impossibility.

The 14 print and TV journalists invited by Garuda to cover the
award ceremony experienced the problem themselves. Their plane
left 40 minutes behind the scheduled departure time from
Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Jan. 12. A senior flight
attendant told us in a friendly tone that there was a seating
problem with the economy class passengers.

Statistics from Schiphol airport revealed that from January to
November 2001, Garuda reduced its arrival delays 4.2 percent from
78.8 percent of arrivals in 2000 to 75.5 percent. However, its
punctuality in departures in 2001 increased by the same
percentage, from 75.2 percent the year before to 78.3 percent.

Yet Garuda's average departure delay surged from 14.9 minutes
in 2000 to 19.8 minutes in 2001. The figure was still lower than
the average delay for all airlines, which was 20.2 minutes in
2000 and 20 minutes in 2001.

It also needs to become more punctual in its arrivals, as the
average arrival delay soared from 13.8 minutes to 29.1 minutes in
2001, compared to the average rate for all airlines of 15.5
minutes last year.

Punctuality is described in the report as the percentage of
flights departing and arriving within 15 minutes of the scheduled
on/off blocks time, for passenger flights only. A delay means the
difference between the on/off blocks time and the scheduled
departure/arrival time, regarding passenger flights only. Early
flights are given a delay time of zero minutes.

"In 2000, we outshone (others) in the arrival on-time
performance. And in 2001, we won on departure punctuality," Djoko
said.

No information was available on the frequency of Garuda
flights originating and boarding in Amsterdam during the period.
But Garuda data for 2001 showed that the number of passengers
leaving Amsterdam aboard its Boeing 747-400 in Amsterdam went up
from 45,989 to 48,345 passengers.

A survey conducted by De Consumentenbond, a Netherlands-based
consumer foundation, published in De Reisgids magazine last
August, ranked Garuda third in customer satisfaction after
Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines.

The survey covered 16 areas, ranging from general information,
quality of food catering to feelings of security.

"In terms of punctuality, we in Garuda are sure of one thing:
We are excellent and we have surpassed the average performance.
But many people still think that Garuda is always tardy and an
Indonesian domestic airport has never conducted any survey on it.
All of a sudden, Schiphol gave us this award," said Djoko, who
also oversees Garuda's offices in London and Frankfurt.

"The international recognition is very important for Garuda. A
domestic commendation would surely raise suspicions about
corruption, collusion and nepotism."

There are currently three flights a week to Amsterdam from
Jakarta, with less than an hour's transit in Singapore.

The award has not come overnight, but follows a hard-won
battle to rescue the airline from the brink of bankruptcy.

Garuda once flew to 11 destinations in Europe, before the
economic crisis that hit the country in 1997, combined with
mismanagement, left PT Garuda Indonesia heavily in debt.

Djoko came to Amsterdam in 1999 and immediately assessed the
situation.

"When I came to Europe, all our offices here were nearly
closed. The headquarters planned to close down its offices in
Amsterdam, Frankfurt and London by 2000. But Garuda still wanted
to retain its flights to Europe.

"I told them we must not quit Amsterdam, but London was most
likely. Why, they asked, and I said that the Netherlands had a
centuries-old historical association with Indonesia, and we
couldn't just cut it off like that.

"After observing the problem, I was convinced that we weren't
marketing our airline in the proper way. We had intensified our
flight frequency by flying from Amsterdam, stopping over in
Frankfurt or Bangkok before reaching Indonesia, but there were
some problems: We wouldn't arrive on time and there was seat
competition."

Djoko came up with a solution.

"By the end of 1999, perhaps early 2000, I proposed a new
product to the board of directors: direct flights. A plane
originating in Amsterdam would only stop off in Singapore before
landing in Indonesia. The new route was flown until last November
and we also changed the flight frequency in London and Frankfurt
to twice and four times a week respectively."

Garuda recorded an increase in ticket sales in the Netherlands
alone of 39 percent, from 44.5 million Dutch guilders in 2000 to
61.92 million guilders in the following year, along with a 15
percent hike in ticket prices.

"We worked really hard during the year because we realized
that the office was close to closing. We improved our service and
our approach to the customer. Finally, the Amsterdam service
progressed more rapidly than London and Frankfurt. We have
pledged to the board of commissioners that we will reach the
break-even point in two years. Our office is considered
successful. We're not increasing flight frequency but we earn a
lot of money."

The airline's seat load factor has also reached a total of
77.2 percent from 157 flights last year, which paved the way for
increased flight frequency. "Our company is still considering
whether to preserve our offices in London and Frankfurt or to add
frequency here."

Speaking about the year ahead, Djoko said Singapore Airlines,
Malaysia Airlines and Dutch KLM were its main competitors. "I'm
just a bit worried that they will reduce their airfares and
affect our airline. Hopefully, we will remain stable in our
performance."