Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine November 2017 | Page 6

4
Salam Garuda Indonesia
SALAM
GARUDA INDONESIA
Pahala N. Mansury
President & CEO
PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk.
Dear valued Garuda Indonesia customers,
Garuda Indonesia was recently
entrusted with the responsibility of
transporting a pair of giant pandas
(Ailuropoda melanoleuca), endemic
animals that also serve as a symbol
of China. The giant pandas were flown
in using Garuda Indonesia’s Airbus
A330-200 on a flight from Chengdu
to Cengkareng, Tangerang.
We were proud to be able to facilitate
the transportation of the two pandas to
mark the strengthening of bilateral ties
between Indonesia and China. The event
was held in partnership with the Chinese
government, the Indonesian Ministry
of Environment and Forestry and
Taman Safari Indonesia.
Earlier in October, we also completed
the last of our 2017 hajj 1438 H services,
which ran from July 28 to October 6,
2017. We were able to record a positive
operational performance with our hajj
flights this year, achieving a 98.20%
on-time performance rate on departures
and 96% for return flights. This is the
best performance ever recorded in the
history of Indonesia’s hajj services.
Meanwhile, to further strengthen
our foothold in the international
aviation industry following the five-star
status given to us by Skytrax,
Garuda Indonesia has been granted
another five-star rating, this time from
the Airline Passenger Experience
Association (APEX), a not-for-profit
organisation focusing on the
improvement of customers’ flight
experiences, based in New York.
Not only does this prestigious
status motivate us to continue refining
our services, but it also reaffirms
Garuda Indonesia’s position as
a global leader in offering the best
experience and comfort.
Moreover, as we move to improve
services for our customers, especially
those making trips to and from London,
Garuda Indonesia launched a direct
Jakarta–London flight in October,
making us the only airline to connect
Indonesia and the United Kingdom with
a flight duration of less than 15 hours.
We hope this direct flight will offer
even more convenience for our
passengers flying from the United
Kingdom and its surrounding regions
to Asia Pacific destinations, especially
the Kangaroo Route, as this flight
will connect the United Kingdom
with cities such as Melbourne,
Sydney and Perth.
We have also expanded our international
network with the launch of our
inaugural Silangit–Singapore flight,
with which Garuda Indonesia hopes to
open up access to Lake Toba, a priority
tourism destination in Indonesia, and
to help achieve the Ministry of Tourism’s
target of 20 million tourist visits in 2019.
As well as the Silangit–Singapore route,
Garuda Indonesia is also continuing to
expand our special network in eastern
Indonesia, where a new Luwuk–Palu route
will be launched this November. To offer
customers even more flight schedule
options, we have also increased our flight
frequency for a number of routes, including
our Denpasar–Melbourne route, which we
have upped from seven to eight flights per
week, and our Kupang–Ende route, which
now flies 11 times a week after previously
operating just seven times a week.
All of our achievements and the
improvement of our services would not
have been possible without your support,
our Garuda Indonesia customers, and
the hard work of our staff in offering
the best possible services.
I would like to once again thank
you for your trust and for choosing
to fly Garuda Indonesia.