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Garuda prepares additional flights for IMF-World Bank meetings
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A Garuda Indonesia aircraft takes off from I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. (Antara/Fikri Yusuf)
J
akarta: National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is preparing additional flights to deal with an anticipated increase in passengers to Denpasar, Bali, ahead of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank annual meetings in Bali in October.
“Our current capacity is enough to handle [an influx of passengers],” Garuda Indonesia president director Pahala N. Mansury said in Denpasar on Saturday as reported by Antara.
He said the airline was in talks with the government about opening additional flights to Bali, especially routes from cities in Northeast Asian countries.
Garuda is also preparing to modify several flights to Bali. “Some routes, such as Shanghai-Jakarta, Beijing-Jakarta, might still be needed, but we can reroute them to make them stop in Denpasar first before they head to Jakarta,” Pahala said.
He also said the company was ready to assist meeting delegations looking to visit Indonesian tourist sites after the IMF-World Bank meetings, adding that the airline had 202 Garuda and Citilink airplanes.
Tourism Minister Arief Yahya previously said that flights the week before and after the meetings had been fully booked and he believed airlines would be ready to handle an increase in air traffic to Bali.
The IMF-World Bank annual meetings are scheduled to take place from Oct. 8 to 14 at the Bali Nusa Dua Convention Center. Some 15,000 delegations comprising state leaders, financial ministers, central bank governors, businesses and academics from 189 countries will attend the event. – JP/(ami)
