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ational flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and budget airline Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) plan to increase flights from North Sumatra'€™s capital city, Medan, this year, with plans to turn the city into one of their regional hubs within the next few years.

The two airlines are set to connect Medan with major and secondary cities in the country and major tourist destinations across Southeast Asia.

Garuda Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar said the airline recently linked Medan with Batam, Riau Islands; Padang, West Sumatra, and Palembang, South Sumatra with a new Canadian-made aircraft, the Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen, which can carry 96 passengers.

The opening of these routes is part of our plan to develop Medan as our new point of distribution or a hub in the future. In addition, we want to strengthen our connections in the western part of Indonesia,'€ Emirsyah said, adding that Medan would become the airline'€™s fourth hub after Jakarta, Denpasar and Makassar.

After connecting Medan with the three destinations in Sumatra, the airline plans to further expand its flight services to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Penang will be Garuda'€™s first new international destination and flights are due to begin on June 1.

'€œThis will offer easier access for people from Batam, Padang and Palembang to continue their journeys to these foreign cities,'€ he said.

In addition, he said that the airline was going to develop a so-called '€œhub bypass'€, establishing direct connections between Medan and Garuda'€™s other hubs to make trips more efficient as the planes would not have to transit in Jakarta.

The routes are Medan'€“Makassar, Medan'€“Denpasar and Medan'€“Surabaya.

Contacted separately, IAA'€™s commercial director, Dato'€™ Bernard Francis, said AirAsia would be linking the North Sumatran capital with Jakarta and Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on May 16 and June 7, respectively.

'€œBesides the fact that it [Medan] is the second-largest city in Indonesia in terms of population, it is an important point as the gateway to Sumatra, making it a strategic location for our expansion,'€ Bernard said.

Jakarta is a natural counterpart to Medan as the two cities are important business centers, while Johor Bahru has become a popular destination for family vacations.

In addition, Johor Bahru was close to Singapore, enabling passengers to travel a short distance by land if they wanted to continue on to Singapore, he said.

To support its expansion, IAA is aiming to add one more Airbus 320 to its fleet in Medan in the near future.

Like Garuda, IAA also plans to turn Medan into one of its hub in Indonesia.

Currently, the airline operates two A320s in the city, providing services to six domestic and international destinations. The IAA connects Medan with Pekanbaru, Bandung, Surabaya, Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Bangkok.

'€œWe believe that the growth [of Medan] will become significant for both tourism and business,'€ he went on, adding that the Medan'€“Jakarta route was expected to become the firm'€™s most popular route after
Jakarta'€“Surabaya.

North Sumatra has grown into an exciting tourism and business center during the past few years, thanks to the country'€™s healthy economic conditions.

Moreover, the city will have a new airport, Kuala Namu, which will replace the existing Polonia International Airport in September.

The much-anticipated airport will have the capacity to serve 8.1 million passengers annually when it opens and it will be expanded in the future.

According to state-run airport operator Angkasa Pura (AP) II, around 93 percent of the Rp 5.5 trillion (US$566.5 million) airport'€™s construction had been completed.

Meanwhile State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan said that he would name Erik Meijer, who is currently the director and chief commercial officer of telecommunication giant Indosat, as Garuda'€™s commercial director replacing Elisa Lumbantoruan.

'€œErik will be one of Garuda'€™s directos, replacing Elisa,'€ he said.