19 October 2009

Garuda back to Europe via Dubai

JAKARTA Ã¢â¬'Garuda Indonesia will restore its European services from June 1 next year.

First up will be a Jakarta-Amsterdam service, with the service operating via Dubai.

The restoration of flights to Europe comes at a time when Garuda is busy reinventing itself as a major carrier in Asia.

An overhaul of the airline staffÃ¢â¬â¢s business and service mentality, together with financial and operational restructuring, has seen the airline return to profit and pay down debt under CEO Emirsyah Satar, who joined Garuda as finance chief in 1998.

In an interview with the International Herald Tribune, Satar said, Ã¢â¬ÅâœWhen I came in, no audit had been done for three years. The company was running on negative cash flow - it was funding itself by issuing debt.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe first thing we had to do was to get out of the state of denial.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœAnd we had to remind ourselves that we are not a transportation company but a travel company - that means the customer comes first.Ã¢â¬~

Satar said he is confident he can prepare the company for an IPO next year.

Garuda recently received approval from the European Union to resume services to Europe.

It had been among several Indonesian airlines banned from flying to Europe because of safety concerns which focused on the IndonesiaÃ¢â¬â¢s aviation watchdog and its failure to oversee airline safety standards in line with EU requirements.

From June 1, Garuda will fly from Jakarta at 21.00 local time and arrive in Dubai at 02.09 local, departing again at 03.15 and arriving in Amsterdam at 08.00 local time.

From Amsterdam, GA 89 departs at 10.00 local, arriving in Dubai at 18.30, and departing again at 19.45 for Jakarta arrival at 07.10 local time.

The route will be served by A330-200 with a seat capacity of 222, including 36 seats in Business Class.