News
Garuda’s Amsterdam re-jig frustrates passengers
October 4th 2019
One-stop A330neo flight from Bali Denpasar replaces non-stop 777 from Jakarta. Read More »
Garuda Indonesia is again restructuring its intercontinental network in a bid to reduce losses, but is confusing passengers along the way.
Garuda flies six times a week between Jakarta and Amsterdam with a 777-300ER. It plans to swap the schedule to a three weekly A330neo service from Denpasar-Bali via Medan. Medan is Indonesia’s most northern major airport. Its latitude is higher than Kuala Lumpur, which improves payload efficiency on the intercontinental sector.
The change will see lie-flat business class seats on the 777 swapped for angled seats on the A330neo. But premium traffic is limited. Jakarta does not have sufficient premium traffic to provide a yield premium for Garuda. Switching to Denpasar allows it to directly market Denpasar to the large leisure market, albeit with a re-fuelling stop in Medan.
In the past, passengers have been confused by Garuda’s various changes to its London service, including signs it would cancel the flight but then reinstated it.
