Garuda Resuming Flights to Europe

State-owned airline PT Garuda Indonesia will resume flying to Europe on Tuesday after a six-year hiatus, launching a joint daily service to Amsterdam with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Spokesman Pujobroto said on Sunday that Garuda planned to resume services to Frankfurt, London and Paris in cooperation with KLM next year.

“We’re looking to cooperate with KLM in the form of cost-sharing for our European routes,” he said, referring to an agreement that would establish connecting flights from separate carriers on the same ticket.

The national flag carrier stopped flying to European destinations in 2004 as the then-struggling airline tried to cut costs. Three years later, the European Union banned all Indonesian airlines from flying to EU destinations, citing safety concerns after a scathing audit by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The ban was lifted on several Indonesian airlines, including Garuda, last year.

Garuda’s first flight to Amsterdam will depart on Tuesday carrying 108 VIP passengers, including Transportation Minister Freddy Numberi and Garuda chief executive Emirsyah Satar, in a new Airbus 330-200.

When the flight arrives at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport the next day there will be an official ceremony attended by KLM chief executive Peter F Hartman and Dutch Transportation Minister Camiel Eurlings.

Pujobroto said Garuda was aiming to achieve at least an 80 percent capacity on its Amsterdam flights. “We’re confident that our service, the Garuda Indonesia Experience, combined with the hospitality and uniqueness of Indonesia, will be able to attract tourists and businesspeople to Indonesia,” he said.

I Gede Pitana, director of inter­national promotions at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, said the reopening of the route would play an important role in promoting tourism to Indonesia.

The ministry is aiming for 200,000 tourists from the Netherlands this year, and the reopening of Garuda’s Amsterdam route will be important in achieving that figure, Pitana said.

“It is highly likely that we will be able to meet our target of 200,000 tourists from the Netherlands with the reopening of Garuda’s Amsterdam route,” he said.

“The development of tourism is very much dependent on air transportation. This is also a sign that the carrier’s effort to improve its service has been recognized. This will greatly improve foreign tourists’ confidence in visiting Indonesia,” Pitana said.

For years Garuda was viewed as being badly run and it made a series of annual losses.

A March 2007 crash in Yogyakarta in which five Australian diplomats and journalists were killed badly damaged its reputation and was partially responsible for the EU ban. However, the airline has returned to profit in recent years, netting Rp 1 trillion ($110 million) in 2009.

Garuda was also named the world’s most improved airline by British-based consultancy Sky­trax at this year’s World Airline Awards in Germany.

It is among 27 airlines in the world to have been awarded a four-star rating from Skytrax.