JEDDAH – “Garuda Indonesia is the flag carrier and a full service airline of Indonesia. As one of the world's older and improved airline, Garuda Indonesia currently operates 130 aircraft and serves many domestic and international destinations in Asia, Australia, and Europe with an “Indonesian touch and hospitality that makes it different,” said Erik Meijer executive vice president, Marketing & Sales of Garuda Airline. Founded 65 years back Garuda Airline is growing globally and represents today as one of the world's leading airlines. In an interview with the Saudi Gazette, Meijer explained how Garuda Airline successfully managed the period of “on the brink of failure” to “success” which he also described as a progression of its world-class services. “I think right now we are at a very good position. Last year we have been voted for best airline in the world and we also have the best economic class and best economic seats in the world. We are growing flip with 130 aircrafts and most of our aircrafts are young and new planes,” he noted. Commenting on Garuda's performance in 2012 and 2013, he said “we carried 25 million passengers in 2013 from 20.5 million in the preceding year, so we have increased. We also added 26 new airplanes last year and we are planning to add 27 aircraft this year,” he added. Asked about the secret behind Garuda's success, Meijer said the secret is on customer service, which sounds like a standard marketing mantra. Knowing why people fly and like Indonesia, for example, has to be addressed clearly. “Indonesia is a great place for holidays. It has good economic growth, so that's what they want to feel, that ‘Indonesian touch ‘and that's what we provide them, we call it Indonesian hospitality.” “So the moment you start boarding, you feel different. You will be taken care of the Indonesian way and the second thing is all these new aircraft really make a difference,” he pointed out. On Garuda's difference with the other airlines, Meijer said “we are an airline which deliberately choose to put less seats in the aircraft unlike most of the airlines. So compare to some of the top three airlines in the world, we put about 50 to 60 seats less which makes more space for seat and leg space etc.” He added “every economy class has their own screen in their seats, great food and wherever we go, we go for the best way. We have started increasing the number of locations this year, we have many more destinations, too,” he further said, noting that the airline launched its 1st class last year. He underlined that Garuda we put so much more effort in its economy class, that is why we are the best economy class in the world according to Skytrax,” he averred. Talking about the airline's achievements and development plans in the Kingdom, Meijer said Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world. Therefore, “we have a huge demand for flights to Kingdom and, on the opposite side, many people in the Kingdom want to go to Indonesia. They fly with us across Indonesia, they are exploring all the beautiful parts of Indonesia. There are also business relations between the two countries because they both have common Islamic values, very good political cooperation between the two countries as well. We serve the market throughout the year, not only during Haj period.” He added that “this is also a reason why we introduced our first-class service cause we see a lot of people on both sides want to take 10 hour flight, we want to serve them with highest comfort.” Moreover, he said “for Haj and Umrah, we are constantly trying to improve the facilities, we are constantly adding new, larger aircraft to bring the pilgrims here to save their time.” At the moment, Garuda only flies to Jeddah, and during Haj period, we fly to Madinah as well. We used to fly Riyadh in the past and we are considering to fly again.
