Garuda Opens Jakarta-Haneda Route
17 June 2014 16:18 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Garuda Indonesia has reopened direct flights from Jakarta to Haneda to meet market demands and increase its routing network. Garuda CEO Emirsyah Satar said that reopening the Haneda route was a strategy to expand the flight network to Japan and beyond.
"Through this route, Garuda passengers will be able to continue their flight domestically to other cities in Japan, or even to the United States," he said during the press conference on Sunday, June 15, 2014.
According to Emir, ANA (All Nippon Airways) will do the connecting flights to other Japanese cities, while flights to Seattle and Los Angeles will be carried on by code share alliance with Delta Airlines.
He believes that Japan is important to Garuda because it is has great potential for the travel market. For more than 50 years, Garuda basked in the positive diplomatic relations between Indonesia and Japan, especially in the areas of the economy and tourism.
Satar said that the airline first served the Jakarta-Haneda route on March 1962. At that time, the flight left from Kemayoran Airport in Jakarta, to Haneda through Hong Kong, flying a Lockheed L-118 Electra plane.
Daily Garuda flights are scheduled to depart from Jakarta at 13.05 and arrive in Haneda at 22.35 local time. Meanwhile, the flight back will depart from Haneda at 00.30 and arrive in Jakarta at 06.00 local time. All flights will use Airbus 330-300 and consist of business and economy class with 36 and 215 passengers capacity respectively. With this additional route, Garuda now serves 39 flights a week to Japan.
ALI HIDAYAT