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Garuda launches Beijing-Denpasar route
National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia officially launched a direct flight service connecting Beijing, China and Denpasar, Bali on Tuesday, amid a growing number of travelers from the worldâs second biggest economy heading to Indonesia
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ational flag carrier Garuda Indonesia officially launched a direct flight service connecting Beijing, China and Denpasar, Bali on Tuesday, amid a growing number of travelers from the world's second biggest economy heading to Indonesia.
Garuda president director Arif Wibowo said the opening of the new route was also aimed at strengthening the airline's network in China.
'China is one of the most important international markets for Garuda because its potential outbound travelers has reached 100 million. Due to this big figure, China has become one of Garuda's network focuses,' Arif said in a written statement.
'As one of our efforts to further tap into the Chinese market, Garuda will also increase flight capacity between China and Indonesia by offering chartered flights from several cities in China to Denpasar and Manado [North Sulawesi] during the Chinese Lunar New Year,' Arif said.
The Chinese Lunar New Year is expected to fall on Feb. 19.
The cities include Chengdu, Chong Qin, Ningbo, Kunming, Junan, Harbin, Xian, Shenyang and Chengzhou. The firm is planning to begin the charter flights in February or July this year.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya said the new Beijing-Denpasar route would offer new access for foreign tourists from China to visit Indonesia.
'The route will help boost the number of foreign tourists visiting Bali and help introduce our tourism spots beyond Bali, such as Lombok and Manado,' the minister said.
Operating the Airbus A330-200, the Beijing-Denpasar service will operate every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday from Beijing Capital International Airport and Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from Ngurah Rai International Airport, with a capacity of 222 passengers.
With this new service, in total Garuda is offering a service seven times per week to Beijing from Jakarta and Denpasar.
Apart from Beijing, the airline has also served flights to Shanghai and Guangzhou.
The carrier previously decided to cut its flight frequencies on several international routes and reduce the number of business-class seats in an attempt to reduce operational costs.
Among the routes that will be restructured include Jakarta-Haneda, Denpasar-Haneda, Jakarta-Tokyo and Denpasar-Brisbane.
The airline will also reduce business class seats from 12 to eight to absorb a larger market, about 15-20 percent higher, due to an increase in its economy class.
Arif added that the decision was done according to the company's analysis, which showed the load factor of business class as between 40 and 50 percent.
The reduction of business class seats would be done in stages next year, starting on the firm's narrow body aircraft, the Boeing 737-800, Arif said.
In addition, the government is looking to waive visa requirements for visitors from five countries with strong purchasing power, namely China, Australia, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
With the visa exemptions, the ministry is optimistic about recording 10 million foreign arrivals next year and 20 million foreign arrivals in 2019.
