National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia in collaboration with Indian Jet Airways, will now offer flights to destinations in India in a move to support the growing relations between the two countries
ational flag carrier Garuda Indonesia in collaboration with Indian Jet Airways, will now offer flights to destinations in India in a move to support the growing relations between the two countries.
Under a code share agreement, Jakarta will connect to the Indian cities of New Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai via Changi Airport in Singapore.
Garuda, which will join the global airline alliance SkyTeam next year, will be able to sell Jet Airways' flight services between Singapore and New Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai, and Jet can sell Garuda flights between Singapore and Jakarta.
'This will further strengthen the global network of both carriers and benefit our passengers,' Garuda vice president for communication Pujobroto said on Wednesday.
Jet senior vice president for commercial affairs Gaurang Shetty said the airline was delighted with the collaboration and that Indonesia was a popular tourist destination for Indian travellers and a strategic trade and investment partner for India.
'We are confident that this code share will see a further increase in demand for business and leisure travel between India and Indonesia,' Shetty said.
Echoing Shetty, Pujobroto said air connectivity provided by Garuda and Jet would help increase trade and tourism between the two countries.
Both Indonesia and India are members of regional blocs, such as the East Asia Summit, and global organizations like the G20, making air connection crucial for growth.
During Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Jakarta in January 2011, Indonesia and India signed business deals worth billions of dollars in many sectors, including energy and infrastructure.
During Singh's visit, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Singh also announced the ambitious target of doubling bilateral trade to US$25 billion by 2015.
Two-way trade stood at $11.3 billion between January and August this year, with a nearly $5.7 billion surplus for Indonesia, according to Trade Ministry data.
The two-way trade figure was 1 percent higher than that booked in the same period last year. Major Indian firms that do business with Indonesia include Tata Motors and the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group.
The number of Indian tourists to the archipelago, particularly to Jakarta, Yogyakarta and Bali, increases every year.
According to data from the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry, there were 152,114 Indian visitors during the January'September period this year, up by about 18 percent from 128,995 people in the same period last year.
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