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."