The number of international passengers carried by Garuda to Bali during January through September 2006 was 526,544 or 8.4% of total passengers carried, contributing 22.4% of the airlines total income for that period. Garuda offers a total 1.1 million seats , equal to one third of total available seats, direct to Bali from Melbourne, Brisbane, Sydney, Perth, Tokyo, Osaka and Singapore. While Garuda serves a total 21 cities, including from Jakarta to Bangkok, Hongkong, Kuala Lumpur, Seoul, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Jeddah and Riyadh.

Bali has strategic value for Garuda, so that Garuda will not stop flying to Bali, especially since Garuda is committed to promote Indonesias tourism underlines Emirsyah.

Garuda is at present indeed restructuring its international routes that use Airbus A-330 since its operational cost compared to number of passengers carried is not efficient. However, this does not mean that we are closing direct flights to Bali, said Garudas CEO..

In direct follow up actions, Garuda took an ad in the papers to announce more direct flights from Perth to Bali. Meanwhile, Garudas Japan General Manager recently announced that starting March 2007, Garuda will increase its three times weekly flights from Osaka to Bali to five times weekly. This is in response to increased demand that saw a rise up to 7,000 passengers per month for the airline. Japanese young people are, apparently less sensitive to travel warnings. Garudas average load factor from Osaka has, therefore, also risen to 77%, up from the low 48% post the 2003 terrorist bombs in Bali.

Next to direct flights to Bali, Garuda also plans direct international flights from Singapore to Semarang, Central Java starting 20 November, said Arjo Bardijan, GA GM in Semarang.

(Editors note: The controversy has brought up the fact that although the travel industry in Bali has always blamed Garuda for monopolizing the Bali route, however, when it comes to the crunch, Balis tourism - or Indonesias tourism for that matter - can not survive without the active participation of a fit and sound national flag carrier " Garuda Indonesia.)

New Terminal for Jakarta Airport

PT Angkasa Pura, operator of Jakartas Soekarno-Hatta international airport, is to build a new terminal with a capacity of four million passengers, located near terminal 3 designated for low-cost carriers, reports Indonesias Trade and Investment News published by the Coordinating Ministry for the Economy.

Director of operations I Gusti Made Dhordy said Wednesday that the new terminal will cost about Rp300 billion. Part of terminal 3 is currently used as the arrival terminal for Indonesian migrant workers and haj pilgrims.

Earlier this month the state-owned company began construction on the new airport for Medan in Deli Serdang regency, North Sumatra to replace the over-crowded Polonia, which sits in the middle of the city.

Medan's new airport will be able to serve eight million passengers per year, compared to Polonia's capacity of a mere 900,000, but which is forced to service around 4,500,000 passengers.

Source: Tuti Sunario (Indonesia Digest)