‘The World's Best Regional Airline' Records Outstanding Profits in First Half of 2012

Garuda Indonesia, the airline of Indonesia, has reported exceptional growth and an operating profit of USD 10.8 million for the first half of 2012, a growth of 131% from the same period in 2011.

The airline showed consistent progress across the board, with 9.6 million passengers carried, an increase of 22.4% lifting the passenger yield – the return per seat – by 4.1%. Garuda Indonesia’s flight frequency also increased by 18.6% to 72.693 flights in the first half of 2012, while its seat load factor rose to 74.8%.

In Australia and the SWP region, Garuda Indonesia’s operations also continued to grow rapidly following a 20% increase in passenger numbers lifting the airline’s passenger revenue by 6.18%. Additionally, increased passenger demand has driven flight frequencies up 22%, from 1537 to 1877.
Commenting on the significant growth in the first six months of 2012, Bagus Y. Siregar, Vice President for Garuda Indonesia Australia and SWP said: “We’re seeing strong in and outbound movements across the whole region, but the stand out route this year has so far been our Melbourne – Denpasar service which increased its average seat load factor to 74%. We’re also very pleased to see the increased demand in Executive Class with seat load factors rising by 9.12% on all routes.”

“These strong figures for semester one are a result of our Quantum Leap Program which includes the expansion of our network, improved service offerings and the revitalisation of our existing fleet,” explains Mr. Siregar.

In 2012 Garuda Indonesia will welcome twenty new aircraft, comprising of four Boeing 737-800NG, two Airbus A330-200, nine Airbus A320 for Citilink as well as five Bombardier CRJ1000 Next Gen for domestic and regional routes.

With the arrival of the new aircraft this year, Garuda Indonesia’s fleet will total 105 aircraft with an average age of 5.8 years, compared to the average fleet age of 16 years within Asia and 14 years within Australasia*.

The airline’s commitment to carrying out its business transformation and achieving significant improvements has earned it a number of accolades in 2012 alone. In March 2012, Garuda Indonesia was recognised as ‘The Best International Airline’ by Roy Morgan and more recently as ‘The World’s Best Regional Airline’ as well as ‘The Best Regional Airline in Asia’ by SkyTrax, the industry’s most prestigious recognition of excellence.