Garuda to strengthen medium-haul flight network

The national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will strengthen its position in the medium-haul flight market in 2016, with a travel time of five to seven hours, according to its President Director Arif Wibowo.

“The current market situation does not allow us to expand in the long-haul flight market, so we are focusing on medium-haul flights,” Wibowo remarked here on Wednesday.

He explained that starting next year, there will be additional flights to and from China.

“This year, we have been operating three weekly flights on the Guangzhou-Beijing route, and Shanghai will be added soon,” Wibowo revealed.

He said the Hong Kong-Denpasar and Singapore-Denpasar routes will be served by Garudas wide-bodied aircraft.

He opined that Garudas strategic business unit has recorded a passenger growth between eight to nine percent, which is not significant.