Querubin J. Miñas Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — With the Haj season fast approaching, Garuda Indonesia, the flag carrier of the country which has the largest Muslim population in the world, is all set to provide the best flight and highly efficient ground services to some 170,00 Indonesian pilgrims who will perform Haj this year. In an interview with the Saudi Gazette, Muhammad Luthfi, said during his first day (Aug. 2) in office as the newly appointed Garuda Indonesia General Manager in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Middle East and Africa region, that this year Garuda Indonesia has commissioned 11 wide-body planes – one Boeing 777, four Boeing 747-400s (744), six A330-300s to ferry the pilgrims on special flights back and forth with an almost perfect on-time performance (OTP). He added that the airline has been recognized for its operational excellence in air travel around the globe, logging 97% in OTP last year, “one of the highest in the industry. OTP is measured by comparing the actual off-block time (when aircraft pushes back) against the airline schedule time for a departing flight. The measurement is done in accordance with the IATA (International Airlines Transport Association) universal standard benchmark which considers a 15-minute deviation from the scheduled time as an on-time departure. Detailing the upcoming Haj flight operations, Luthfi, who had been in charge of Garuda Indonesia Haj operations for the past several years and had achieved sterling accomplishments during those terms, disclosed that Garuda Indonesia's daily Haj flights this year are split into two phases. Under the First Phase for arrival of pilgrims from Indonesia, the first two weeks Haj flights start on Aug. 21 until Sept. 3 that fly to Madinah and the last two weeks Haj flights start on Sept. 4 until Sept. 17 to Jeddah. The Second Phase is allotted to transporting pilgrims' return to Indonesia. In this stage, the first two weeks of Haj flights start on Sept. 28 until Oct. 11 flying from Jeddah to Indonesia and the last two weeks of Haj flights start on Oct. 12 until Oct. 27 flying from Madinah to Indonesia. “Garuda pays the cost to give the best service to pilgrims,” Luthfi noted. And to further facilitate the movement of passengers, he said Garuda Indonesia brought 170 ground staff from Indonesia to assist in the smooth flow of passengers and their luggage. As part of its further expansion plans, Garuda is also considering to operate direct flight to Riyadh, Madinah, Jakarta and Ujung Pandang and Balikpapan seaport city in East Kalimantan, the new general manager in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Middle East and Africa region, noted. Garuda serves Sydney, Melbourne and Perth from its hubs in Jakarta and Denpasar (Bali) in Indonesia. Moreover, having joined the SkyTeam, Garuda Indonesia is set to sign a code-share agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines in December that will enable the two to put their two-letter identification code on the flights of another airline. Accordingly, a flight operated by one airline is jointly marketed in computerized reservation systems as a flight by one or more other airlines. Garuda Indonesia plans to modernize its fleet with 30 Boeing 787-9s and another 30 Airbus A350s, along with up to 30 of Boeing's next-gen 737 MAX 8s. He hinted that the first of the ordered Boeing 787 Dreamliner would be delivered in 2019. Aboard the Boeing 787, guests will enjoy all of the Dreamliner's creature comforts such as larger windows and overhead lockers, LED mood lighting, lower cabin pressure and Boeing's Smooth Ride technology to dampen turbulence. Up to July 2015, Garuda Indonesia operates a total of 140 aircraft consisting of Boeing 777-300ER (7), Airbus 330-200/300 (23), Boeing 747-400 (2), Boeing 737-800 Next Generation (79), Bombardier CRJ1000 (15), Boeing 737-500 (4), Boeing 737-300 (1), and ATR 72-600 (9) with an average fleet age of 4.3 years. Ramping up Garuda's long-distance international presence will be a priority in the coming years," he said. Garuda aims to provide its passengers with the best possible experience with the youngest fleet in the sky and support the airline's future plan to further expand its network globally, he remarked. Currently, the airline flies to 33 international cities, Luthfi said, and plans to enter Istanbul, Paris, Frankfurt and Vienna, among others. And like the proverbial saying “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, Garuda Indonesia showed that it has passed a series of litmus tests that comfortably earned the national carrier of Indonesia a rightful place in the sun, so to speak. The airline company has recently reported a profitable first half of 2015 on the back of increased sales and lower costs. Garuda Indonesia has reported a net profit of $29.3 million for the first semester of 2015, an increase of 114.5% compared to the same period last year. Garuda Indonesia also succeeded in increasing its operating revenue to $1.84 billion, an increase of 4.7% from $ 1.76 billion compared to the previous year, while operating expenses decreased by 11.6% from $1.99 billion to $1.76 billion. Garuda Indonesia, including its low-cost subsidiary, Citilink, successfully transported 15,900,961 passengers, an increase of 19.5% from a total of 13,307,351 passengers last year. Garuda Indonesia transported 11,555,319 passengers (comprised of 9,432,349 domestic passengers and 2,122,979 international passengers), an increase of 15.3%, while Citilink managed to transport 4,345,642 passengers, an increase of 32% from 3,382,844 passengers last year. The flight frequency of Garuda Indonesia, both the domestic and international routes, reached 122,446 flights, an increase of 13.8% compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the availability seat kilometers (ASK) increased by 7.2%, or 26.08 billion from 24,32 billion ASK in the second semester of 2014. Similarly, Seat Load Factor/SLF in the first semester of 2015 improved to 75.8% compared to 69% in the same period of last year. OTP reached 89.7%, while aircraft utilization reached 09:12 hour. The airline also successfully increased its domestic and international market share. In H1 2015 Garuda Indonesia commanded 44% of domestic market share, a noticeable increase from 37% last year. International market share has also increased to 28% from 21% in the same period of 2014. Luthfi confirmed that the airline booked $29.3 million in net income from January to June this year, compared to the $201.3 million loss it recorded in the same period last year. This achievement is the result of business expansion strategy and continuous efficiency efforts, he underscored. Garuda's revenue grew by 4.7 percent to $1.84 million, as the airline and its low-cost subsidiary, Citilink, flew 15.9 million passengers in the first six months of the year. The figure marks a 20 percent increase from last year's passenger numbers. Citilink registered a 32 percent growth in terms of the number of passengers carried, thanks to the 10 jets it received from Garuda early in the year. Citilink has flown 4.3 million passengers, or 28 percent of Garuda's total passenger tally, in the January-June period. Garuda's seat-load factor, which indicates how much an airline makes use of its seat capacity, rose to 76 percent from 69 percent in 2014. The airline carried 176,123 metric tons of cargo, down 8.9 percent from the 193,508 tons it transported last year. The airline, Indonesia's biggest, accounted for 44 percent of domestic flights, up from 39 percent a year ago. Its international flights also captured 28 percent of the market, increasing from 21 percent a year earlier. As a result, Garuda's costs fell 12 percent to $1.76 billion in the first half, the company said. The airline would continue to improve the efficiency of its fleet as evidenced by its continuous expansion program both in terms of networks and fleet revitalization program, in line with Garuda's effort to keep pace with the industry's rapid growth in both the domestic and regional market, as well as helping to sustain Garuda's core business and market share as a full-service carrier. The airline is expecting the delivery in 2017 or early 2018 of the first aircraft out of the 50 Boeing 737 MAX narrow-bodies it has ordered amid increasing demand. The flag carrier of Indonesia will purchase 46 737 MAX 8s and will convert existing orders for four Next-Generation 737-800s to 737 MAX 8s. Boeing Co. said Garuda Indonesia is committed to buying up to 30 787-9 Dreamliner planes and an additional 30 737 MAX 8 jets. No doubt, Garuda Indonesia's resolute plan of further expansion through efficiency and services is paying off. Its signature “Indonesia Hospitality” which puts more emphasis on guest's “five-touch points” or five senses satisfaction earned the company the much coveted “The World's Best Airline Cabin Staff in 2015” award at the 2015 World Airline Awards. Besides, Garuda Indonesia puts maximum attention on safety standard, Luthfi pointed out, saying that reliability cannot be compromised. In 2008, it received the “IOSA Safety Audit Certification” given by IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit). Garuda Indonesia has also been named as the newest member of the exclusive group of 5-Star Airlines by Skytrax, the world's leading airline and airport review specialists. It becomes the seventh airlines to earn the prestigious award, joining Asiana Airlines, Cathay Pacific, Hainan Airlines, All Nippon Airways, Qatar Airways, and Singapore Airlines.
