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ational airline Garuda Indonesia has been ranked the best carrier in terms of service quality in Southeast Asia, beating out major rivals, including industry heavyweight Singapore Airlines.

In a recent survey by the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation (CAPA), Garuda scored 8.48 for service, beating out Bangkok Airways (8.4), Singapore Airlines (7.68), Thai Airways (7.32) and Malaysian Airlines (7).

CAPA is an independent research center that provides aviation market intelligence, analysis and data services. The research center has published aviation surveys for Asia Pacific, the Americas, the Middle East and Africa.

The Southeast Asia survey measured several criteria, including passenger comfort, food, on board and ground services and how customers perceived the value of flying with the airline.

Commenting on the survey, Garuda president director Emirsyah Satar said in Jakarta on Saturday that people were now starting to appreciate the flag carrier’s progress and improvements.

“Garuda has been implementing a business transformation program that covers all aspects of the company,” he told The Jakarta Post. He said this was behind the carrier’s major improvements.

Citing other examples of Garuda’s improvements, Emir said the airline had added 24 new aircraft to its fleet this year, and had improved its service quality in 28 areas.

The survey reported that travelers were genuinely impressed by the ‘new’ Garuda and that the airline appeared to rebuilding itself on firm foundations.

Garuda spokesman Pudjobroto added that one of the airlines’s services that had received the most praise from foreign passengers was the “Immigration on Board” system. This allows foreign passengers to complete the immigration process in flight, thus avoiding notoriously lengthy queues at immigration.

“It saves more time and passengers from [South] Korea, Amsterdam and Japan are very pleased with the service which is exclusive to Garuda,” he added.

Despite its success, Emir said the airline should not sit on its laurels, adding that much work lay ahead to complete more improvements.

The national carrier is one of several state-owned enterprises scheduled to go public this year. However, the company’s financial report audit has been delayed, forcing the company to postpone its initial public offering to February next year.

Garuda must wait for the financial report audit, which is now due in Oct. 23 this year.

Emir said the company would register with the Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Agency at the end of November. (map)