Garuda Indonesia Airlines

  About Garuda Indonesia

PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk or better known as simply Garuda Indonesia is a famous Indonesian airline. The airline was formerly called the Garuda Indonesian Airways. It was founded in 1947 as KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf. The headquarters of Garuda Indonesia is at the Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, near Jakarta. Garuda Indonesia is on the second spot amongst the top airlines in Indonesia. It operates on multiple international flying routes as well as many domestic routes. Garuda Indonesia began to operate in the Indonesian war of independence against in the late 1940s. In January 1949, the first commercial flight operated from Calcutta to Rangoon. This flight is considered as the founding day for the airlines. By mid-1950s, the airline had a fleet of 38 aircraft. The fleet added more planes for the during the 1960s. In 1965, plans to expand beyond the Asian market unfolded intending to introduce new international routes, as the company brought its first Douglas DC-8. Flight operations began to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Rome and Paris. The company also, soon, started flights to China.

The name of the airline, Garuda, has its roots in the Hindu culture and mythology. As per Hindu tradition, Garuda is the name of Lord Vishnu's mount. The name was given to the flight in 1949 at the Dutch–Indonesian Round Table Conference. Indonesian President Sukarno had recited a poem composed by the celebrated poet Raden Mas Noto Soetoro. The words of the impressive poem were, "Ik ben Garuda, Vishnoe's Vogel, die zijn vleugels uitslaat hoog Boven UW eilanden". The poem translates into "I'm Garuda, Vishnu's Bird, that spreads its wings high above the Islands".

In 2009, Garuda Indonesia announced a competitive five-year expansion plan dubbed as the Quantum Leap. The airline underwent a brand change, including a change in logo and staff uniform. By 2014, Garuda Indonesia was running five flights to Amsterdam every week. In 2011, the airline entered the Indonesia Stock Exchange, and the government of Indonesia was the largest shareholder. In the same year, the airline became one of the seven airlines to receive a 5-star rating from Skytrax. The head office for Garuda Indonesia is located in Garuda Indonesia Management Building in the Garuda Indonesia City Center in Tangerang, Banten, Indonesia,[71][72] near Cengkareng and near Jakarta. The head office splurges over a land size of 17,000-square-metre (180,000 sq ft) on a 5-hectare (12-acre) plot of land. By 2009, the head office was housing about one thousand employees of Garuda management and various units. In 2011, Garuda was used by 17.1 million passengers, which was an increase of 39% from 2010. The sum of the revenue increased by 38% to Rp27.1 trillion ($2.95 billion).

Fleet size of Garuda Indonesia

By the early 1970s, Garuda Indonesia was the largest operator of F28. In 1980, the company brought its first Boeing 747-200. Over the coming few years, the airline expanded more and added advanced planes to the fleet. After the launch of the Quantum Leap, the size of the fleet was doubled from 62 to 116. As of July 2020, Garuda Indonesia has 147 aircraft in the fleet. This includes seven Airbus A330-200, seventeen Airbus A330-300, five Airbus A330-900neo, thirteen ATR 72-600, seventy-three Boeing 737-800, one Boeing 737 MAX 8, ten Boeing 777-300ER, eighteen Bombardier CRJ1000 among other aircraft. With the fleet that large, Garuda Indonesia has flights zooming to 96 destinations (72 domestic and 24 international) in 14 countries. There are about 500 daily flights from its centres at Jakarta, Denpasar, Medan and Makassar.

Baggage Allowance

Garuda Indonesia follows the same baggage allowance policy as a majority of other airlines do. Passengers are entitled to carry baggage for the carriage, but it can only contain articles, effects of other property of passengers which are important for wear, or comfort, or convenience. Except for the bags belonging to the diplomats, the carrier holds the rights, but not a necessary obligation to check the contents of the baggage, in the presence of the passengers. Checked baggage covers the articles that are weighed and carried into the cargo compartment of the aircraft, restricted from access to the travelled amid the duration of the flight. The bags are labelled with a tag showing the arrival and a serial number. A portion of the tag is attached to the passenger's ticket for identification, which should be surrendered at the arrival station.

Garuda Indonesia has a rule that says every single piece of item or baggage that has been checked-in should not be over 70 lbs/32 kg. Now, for the unchecked baggage, the items that the passenger can carry to store in the overhead compartment in the plane, they are divided into two categories. The free carry on items are passengers responsibility and should be carried with supervision as these articles are not labelled. The cabin baggage may only have a maximum length of 56 cm, width 36 cm or depth 23 cm, and also the total of the three dimensions shall not exceed 115 cm or weight of 7 kg. Although, there are exceptions for the Economy class CRJ and ATR, where the dimensions could be a maximum length of 41 cm, a width of 34 cm or depth of 17 cm.

Also, there is a Free Baggage Allowance (FBA) for passengers travelling together. When more than one passengers are travelling as the same party to a mutual destination or stopover on the same flight, they will be allowed a total free of cost baggage allowance equivalent to the combination of their free baggage allowance, provided that they present themselves and the baggage at the same time and place.

In-flight services

Garuda Indonesia, with its impressive fleet, also aims at providing the most vogue in-flight services to the passengers. Over the years, it has constantly upgraded seats, in-flight services and facilities in accordance with the changing times and evolving technology. The seats are comfortable. The in-flight meals are lip-smacking. There are amenities, like entertainment systems for leisure. Pillows, toilet kits, earplugs, eye masks and more products are provided to make the experience for passengers utmost memorable and comfortable.

The first-class seats are equipped with sliding doors for extra privacy and have seats that convert into a bed—the seats in business class feature 24" AVOD screen and a touchscreen seat controller. There is a chef available on the flight for business class travellers, who are also allowed free wi-fi connectivity.

Popular routes and top cities for Garuda Indonesia

As of 2020, Garuda Indonesia has 71 domestic route connectivity with 71 destinations and international route connectivity with 24 destinations. These destinations are spread across 13 countries. Approximately about 500 daily flights are departing and arriving at the airport hubs of Garuda Indonesia such as Jakarta, Medan, Makassar and Denpasar. The airline also resumed services to European countries such as Jakarta and Amsterdam with a pit stop in Dubai for fueling. The airline has planned to resume services of a lot of destinations including Los Angeles and Mumbai, among the others. Some of the top cities for the airline are Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Zhengzhou, Prague, Hong Kong, Balikpapan, Banda Aceh, Batam, Baubau, Bengkulu, Bima, Denpasar, Ende, Jakarta, Jambi, Jayapura, Jember, Kendari, Kupang, Makassar, Manado, Mamuju, Manokwari, Mataram, Medan, Merauke, Nias, Padang Taraken, Timika, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Medina, Jeddah, Singapore, Seoul, Colombo, Bangkok, and Penang, to name a few.

Garuda Indonesia also has codeshare agreements with a bunch of airlines such as Aeroflot, China Airlines, Japan Airlines, Oman Air, Philippine Airlines, Kenya Airways, China Eastern Airlines, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Air France, All Nippon Airways, Bangkok Airways, Delta Air Lines, Etihad Airways, Hong Kong Airlines, KLM, Korean Air, Malaysia Airlines, Saudia, Silkair, Singapore Airlines, Vietnam Airlines, Turkish Airlines and more. This has enabled the airline to have perfect connections with many more destinations as opposed to the ones it operates in.

Why travel by Garuda Indonesia?

Garuda Indonesia has been in the airlines business for more than 70 years now. Overall these years, the airline has witnessed several new changes in the aviation were with respect to newer and more accomplished aircraft to better airport facilities. The airlines with their mileage programmes and frequent flyer clubs have also been a concept that the airline has witnessed come to life. With a legacy where the airline has been involved with or experienced technology grow, Garuda Indonesia has also incorporated much of the new technology and airport lifestyle.

Intending to enhance the functionality and convenience of the passengers, the airline has incorporated some of the best aircraft to join its fleet. Further, Garuda Indonesia has also brought forth several better facilities with respect to providing the passengers with exquisite airport lounge services, discounts on flights, better hospitality and in-flight services, generous baggage allowance, better equipment on board, to name a few.

The culture of web check-in has also been acquired by the airline. In fact, passengers can book a Garuda Indonesia flight ticket and avail the best of in-flight facilities. Flight status and flight schedules can also be accessed.