Garuda Indonesia will expand its network and frequencies throughout Asia in response to “strong passenger movements” from Australia and the wider region.
Senior general manager Australia South West Pacific, Bagus Y Siregar, said the airline had been experiencing high demand on its Australia-Jakarta routes between January and November 2011 with outbound passenger numbers increasing nearly 12% from 2010 to 150,587.
Siregar confirmed the airline would make a “concerted effort” to expand its international network in 2012, with new services to Taipei and Haneda Tokyo on the cards for the second quarter.
“These new services will provide our Australian passengers with a seamless connection via our hub in Jakarta and greater access to our Asian network,” he said.
The airline will take delivery of 11 new aircraft over the next year to support the growth, with the new arrivals expected to bring its average fleet age down to 5.7 years.
The airline transported 15.4 million passengers between January and November last year, an increase of 36.4% on 2010’s 11.32m. The airline’s passenger yield climbed 13%.
Garuda recently increased frequencies on a number of international routes, including Sydney-Denpasar, Melbourne-Jakarta and Melbourne-Denpasar.
