Singapore Airlines (SIA) and Garuda Indonesia are now codesharing on each other’s flights between Singapore and the Indonesian capital Jakarta after expanding an agreement that started nine years ago.
The airline’s current three times weekly Jakarta – London Gatwick operation, which acts as a continuation of flights from the Indonesian capital to Amsterdam, will grow to a five times weekly schedule when the move to Heathrow takes place from March 31, 2016 as it draws on SkyTeam alliance transfer flows via the hub airport to bring additional passenger flows onto the city pair.
Garuda’s plans to introduce non-stop flights to Europe have been restricted by limited runway capacity at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, with the pavement classification number (PCN) of the runways and apron at Soekarno-Hatta Airport not meeting the required level of strength that is typically needed for the operation of a full capacity, heavy duty commercial airliner such as the Boeing 777-300ER.
In an interview with the Chinese media following the arrival of the A330 in China, Xu Xin, chief executive officer, Beijing Capital Airlines said that over the next five years the carrier intends to purchase at least 30 widebody aircraft to open more international routes between Chinese cities and major overseas tourist destinations.
In a recent interview, Garuda Indonesia's CEO, Arif Wibowo, outlined Chengdu, Chongqing, Harbin, Nanjing, Ningbo, Shenyang, Taiyuan, Wuhan, Xian and Zhengzhou as possible future markets for the carrier. The Indonesia – China market is highly competitive one with four other airlines – all Chinese operators - flying between the two countries alongside Garuda.
