Flights to Europe

Garuda Indonesia plans to re-introduce services to Europe under a five year plan to transform the once troubled airline.Indonesia's national carrier will introduce daily services from Jakarta to Amsterdam via Dubai from June, 2010, after the European Union lifted its ban on the airline, citing significant improvements in safety.

All Indonesia registered aircraft were banned from flying to Europe in June 2007 after a string of fatal crashes, including the Yogyakarta crash-landing in March, 2007 that killed 21 people.The Yogyakarta High Court recently overturned a criminal negligence conviction and the two-year prison sentence of pilot Marwoto Komar and ordered he be returned to his position. However, Garuda has ruled out reinstating the pilot.

Garuda chief executive Emirsyah Satar said the return of the carrier to Europe was a significant milestone after an absence of five years from the continent.Satar, who has been President and CEO of Garuda Indonesia since 2005, has been responsible for transforming the airline using a five-year corporate development strategy known as Quantum Leap.

We have set an aggressive five year growth strategy for the airline that will allow Garuda to take its place alongside other leading international airlines in the Asia Pacific region, Satar said.
Establishing a strong presence in Europe is an important element of meeting these targets. Amsterdam will be the first of a number of European cities including Frankfurt, Paris and London that the airline plans to service over the next few years.

The route will initially be serviced by the airline's fleet of A330-200, but Garuda says it has 10 Boeing 777-300ERs on order for 2011, which will then allow the airline to operate non stop from Jakarta into Europe.The expansion aims to increase international departures by 300 per cent to 1222 per week by 2014.There are plans to more than double Garuda's fleet to 116 aircraft over the next five years.

Indonesia's flagship carrier has also introduced new direct flights to Jakarta from Sydney and Melbourne to service business travellers.The non-stop services to the Indonesian capital began operating three days a week from August, 2009 using new Airbus A330-200 wide-bodied aircraft.Garuda Pacific head Poerwoko Soeparyono said the direct flights were an important part of the company's transformation strategy.Garuda has long been known in the Australian market and others predominantly as a leisure carrier, servicing destinations such as Bali, Soeparyono said.

While our leisure business will remain a critical segment of our operations into the future, the airline is now also looking to place increased emphasis on the corporate sector.Garuda's turnaround strategy became evident when the carrier booked a net profit of IRD669 billion $US65.2 million for the 2008 financial year, despite the severe economic conditions affecting the global airline industry.Profits for 2009 are expected to exceed the previous year and a stock market listing by the middle of next year is now on the cards for the carrier.