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Garuda gears up for open skies policy
Note: Malaysian Airlines & Qantas: data Jan
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Note: Malaysian Airlines & Qantas: data Jan.-Aug. Source: GA's data, Airline's Website, AsiaPacific's data: IATA-JPM
As the nations of Southeast Asian brace for ASEAN's Open Sky, national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is aiming to increase its 'regional passenger' numbers to at least 10 million.
The airline plans to expand its domestic network and increase its fleet for the open-skies policy that will be fully implemented next year.
Garuda Indonesia president director Arif Wibowo said the regional market of the airline industry amounted to a total of 66 million passengers, with around 34 million passengers in Indonesia.
'Last year, we flew a total of 21.5 million passengers, with around 40 percent of them, or around 8 million, being regional passengers,' Arif said, referring to passengers from the Southeast Asia region.
'As we are aiming to grow around 12 percent per year, we hope to book around 10 million regional passengers when the policy is implemented,' he said.
Indonesia has prepared for the open-skies policy and plans to open five major airports in Jakarta, Medan (North Sumatra), Bali, Surabaya (East Java) and Makassar (South Sulawesi). It expects to see an increased number of foreign travelers.
Arif said Garuda, the full-service airline, aimed at recording a total of 25 million passengers this year, while its low-cost arm Citilink had set a target of 11 million passengers.
In order to provide more seats to cater for an increasing number of passengers, the airline is set to add three Boeing 777, two Airbus A330, seven Boeing 737-800, two Bombardier CRK and three ATR 72 aircraft to its fleet this year. With the new aircraft, the carrier will have a total operational fleet of 150 this year.
'Ahead of the Open Sky, we want to spread our wings to the most remote parts of the country, therefore we're providing services to Raja Ampat, Labuan Bajo and Saumlaki to strengthen our foothold,' Arif said.
'We have received permission to operate in 44 routes for the ATR, but we currently only operate around 17 routes and we are aiming to optimize them,' he added.
The carrier will also reduce its business-class seats from 12 to eight, believing that the move will allow the firm to absorb a larger market, 15 to 20 percent higher, as a result of its economy-class seat increase.
According to Arif, the decision was made in accordance with the company's analysis results, which concluded that its business-class load factor stood at only between 40 and 50 percent.
Arif added, however, that the increased capacity on the airlines' side should also be supported by the infrastructure, especially at the country's main gate Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten.
Airnav president director Bambang Tjahjono separately said that the firm, in cooperation with state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II (AP II), had prepared the systems to increase the capacity of the existing runway in the country's main gate from 72 flights per hour to 86 flights per hour.
Bambang said the increased capacity would become effective in June this year.
'Currently we only handle 72 flights per hour during peak season. On normal days, the traffic amounts to only 60 flights per hour,' Bambang said.
'Nonetheless, we have to prepare for a busier airport next year,' he continue
