National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will terminate its non-stop flights between Jakarta and London on Oct. 28 to cut costs and reverse declining financial performance.
The airline will still serve the London route via Amsterdam, six times per week.
“We will work closely with our airline partners to assist our valued passengers affected by this change to ensure that we are able to rearrange their itineraries and re-accommodate them through our Amsterdam-Jakarta route or other alternative flights,” Garuda Indonesia said via its official UK Twitter account on Thursday (30/08).
Garuda Indonesia commenced three weekly direct flights between Jakarta and London in October last year, aimed at attracting more customers and helping the carrier’s image in Europe.
But the route has proven to be unprofitable for the airline, which forced it to reconsider.
Besides Jakarta-London direct flights, the company also plans to terminate 10 other unprofitable routes this year.
Garuda managed to increase its operating profit in the first six months of 2018 by 5.9 percent to $1.9 billion after cutting 17 routes last year, in addition to increasing passenger numbers and improvement in the performance of its subsidiaries.
As a result, the flag carrier booked a smaller net loss of $114 million, compared with from $284 million in the same period a year ago.
Garuda Indonesia chief executive Pahala Mansury expects the airline to turn into profit this year, but a weakening rupiah could hamper the effort.
He said the company needs to open new international routes to receive more income in United States dollar. Up to 65 percent of Garuda’s revenue is in rupiah, while most of its expenditure, such as fuel, spare parts and debt payments, are in dollars.
Source: Jakarta Globe
Photo retrieved from Garuda Indonesia