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Garuda Indonesia to open route from Bali to Chengdu
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Garuda Indonesia's PK-GIC Boeing 777-300 flies to Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on Jan. 18. (Shutterstock.com/Nieuwland)
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aruda Indonesia plans to open a new route from Bali to Chengdu in China on Jan. 15. The direct flight is slated to fly four times a week using an Airbus aircraft.
The company's president director Arif Wibowo told Antara news agency that China was a huge tourist market and Chengdu served as a potential entry point to tap into.
“That is why we will open a direct flight from Bali to Chengdu starting in January," said Arif.
(Read also: Garuda Indonesia plans to connect Mumbai with Jakarta)
Chinese citizens contribute the largest number of tourist arrivals in the archipelago, beating Singapore, Malaysia and even Australia, which has always been at top of the list, according to the Central Statistics Agency (BPS).
"We're optimistic that we can grow by 10 percent this year compared to last year. We have developed many international and domestic routes," said Arif.
The national flag carrier has also revealed plans to expand to India starting at the end of this year.
"We will soon open a new route from Bangkok to Mumbai. Hopefully we can reach our target this year, which is 25 million passengers for Garuda Indonesia and 11 million passengers for Citilink," said Arif. (mra/kes)
