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Garuda targets 50,000 passengers to the UK per year
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A Garuda Indonesia airplane at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. (The Jakarta Post/wienda parwitasari)
N
ational flag carrier Garuda Indonesia president director Arif Wibowo signed an agreement with the UK government, represented by UK Ambassador to Indonesia Moazzam Malik in Jakarta on Thursday, expressing hope that the cooperation boosts passenger growth to 5 percent per year.
“Our traffic is 40,000 passengers per year, if we could surpass 50,000 per year, that would be good,” Arif said as quoted by Antara news agency.
Arif said the one-year cooperation expanded the business sectors to not only tourism but also education and trade.
“First, tourism, so we can make traveling to the UK interesting and vice versa, and second is the attraction of going to school in the UK,” he said.
Arif said Garuda had tapped the potential since last year by opening direct flights from Jakarta to London through Heathrow Airport.
“We have been operating direct flights to the UK and we consistently see growth. We have received help from Moazzam Malik to get the best slots at Heathrow,” he said.
Arif said occupancy rate for Garuda flights to London had increased from 50 percent in the first three months to 70 percent.
Garuda currently provides three direct flights to UK per week on account of the low season. During the high season it provides five flights a week.
Ambassador Moazzam said tourists from the UK to Indonesia reached 300,000 people a year and he hoped the number could surpass those going to Thailand, which reached 1 million people from UK. (evi)
