J

AKARTA: National flag-carrier Garuda Indonesia begins its new Jakarta-London flight service on Monday morning in an effort to expand its international networks.

'€œWe believe the opening of this route will further develop economic, business, social and tourism activities between Indonesia and the UK,'€ Garuda sales and marketing director Erik Meijer said in a statement made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday, adding that the Jakarta-London route would make a stop in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

For the service, the carrier will operate a wide-bodied Boeing B777-300 Extended Range (ER) aircraft, which has a total capacity of 314 seats with the following configuration: 8 first-class seats, 38 business-class seats and 268 economy-class seats. First-class passengers will get the privilege of having their meals cooked by a chef on board.

The aircraft is also equipped with '€œIn-flight Connectivity'€ that includes exConnect facilities (internet connection via WiFi) and Live TV (live telecasts from prominent international channels such as CNN International, BBC World, BBC Arabic, NHK World Premium and Euronews).

Erik said that the airline would fly to Gatwick International Airport from the country'€™s main gateway, Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, five times a week. /(nfo)