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ublicly listed Garuda Indonesia says all international routes in Asia and Australia served by the airline will see gradual increases in flights until all destinations are served on a daily basis. Such a target should be achieved by the end of this year, the company said.

To support the plan, Garuda expects to have 11 new aircraft this year, consisting of four Boeing B737-800 New Generation, two Airbus A330-200 and five 100 sub-seaters.

Garuda currently flies to 19 international destinations across Asia, Australia and Europe.

“We are trying to increase flights for international destinations in Asia and Europe. We even plan to have two flights a day for special routes such as for Jakarta–Hong Kong,” marketing director Arif Wibowo said on Thursday.

The plan, he said, was in line with the company’s ambition to be a prominent regional player, targeting to increase the total number of international flight passengers to 22 million from 17 million last year.

Arif said the company’s stronger focus on the Asian and Australian markets reflected its confidence in the resilience of economies in Asia amid the crises in the US and Europe.

Earlier this week, Garuda announced cuts to its Jakarta–Amsterdam via Dubai flights from seven to four times a week as of March 1 due to sluggish demand.

Arif said the flight reductions to Europe vis-à-vis Amsterdam was temporary. “We are still planning to expand our network in Europe such as Frankfurt and Rome in 2013,” provided that the economic condition in the eurozone improves, he said.

In October, Garuda increased flight frequencies on a number of routes, such as Denpasar–Sydney from six to seven times a week, Denpasar–Seoul from five to seven times a week, Jakarta–Melbourne from three to four times a week, and Denpasar–Melbourne from four to five times a week.

In addition, since the end of December last year, the airline increased its Jakarta–Shanghai flights from five to seven times a week, Jakarta–Beijing flights from three to five times a week and Jakarta–Seoul flights from six to seven times a week.

Besides the international routes, Garuda will add flights on several domestic routes this year: Jakarta–Batam from four to five times per day and Jakarta–Pekanbaru from five to six times per day, he said.

The airline also plans to open a new route from Bandung to Surabaya and back starting Feb. 10.

“The Bandung–Surabaya route will be served daily. GA 361 will leave Jakarta at 2:35 p.m. and arrive in Surabaya at 3:45 p.m. and GA 360 will depart from Surabaya at 12:35 p.m. and arrive in Bandung at 1:50 p.m.,” Arif said.

Garuda Indonesia passengers from Bandung will also be able to continue their flight to Denpasar, Bali and Makassar, South Sulawesi via Surabaya.

The airline and Bank Mandiri signed a memorandum of understanding for joint promotion on Wednesday at the Garuda Indonesia sales office in Senayan, Jakarta.

Bank Mandiri executive vice president of consumer finance Mansyur Nasution said a Rp 1 trillion (US $112 million) target from corporate sales had been set.

“Last year, our joint promotion reached Rp 600 billion [$67.20 million],” Mansyur said.

Arif said that Garuda’s total corporate sales in 2011 were Rp 1.5 trillion and the airline is planning to double the figure this year. (nfo)