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Garuda reports 55% month-on-month passenger growth in August
October 2nd 2020
Garuda Indonesia said this week passenger numbers improved for a third straight month in August, in line with the relaxing of travel restrictions in the country. Read More »
The airline group carried 571,474 passengers for the month, up 55.2% from 368,167 passengers in July. Air traveller numbers have risen on a month-on-month basis since the low point of May. In that month, 34,872 customers flew with the Indonesia airline group at a time when large-scale social restrictions were imposed by the government to stop the spread of COVID-19.
Despite the encouraging signs, the August figures were down 78.6% from the 2.7 million passengers Garuda and its Citilink subsidiary carried in the same month a year earlier.
There could also be clouds on the horizon given the recent increase in coronavirus cases in the country. The Indonesia government began easing its nationwide stay-at-home order in May, allowing the general public to travel domestically if they had a negative test result for coronavirus.
Initially, the eased rules were welcomed in Bali, as Indonesians flocked to the popular tourist hotspot when the local government re-opened the island to visitors from the end of July.
The influx of people from across the archipelago led to a big jump in coronavirus cases in Bali. In response, the local government has pushed back plans to open the island to international tourists and introduced limits on mass gatherings. A number of hotels have been earmarked as isolation facilities for individuals who test positive to COVID-19.
There also has been a spike in daily infections in Jakarta, which prompted authorities there to re-introduce working from home and compulsory wearing of face coverings in public.
Garuda carried 187,831 passengers on its domestic network in August, up 70.1% from 110,432 in July. Domestic capacity increased by 46.2% and revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) rose 57.4%. With demand growing ahead of capacity, passenger load factor improved 2.07 percentage points to 29.18%. Nonetheless, domestic load factor was well down from 79.33% in August 2019.
Interestingly, Garuda's ASKs in August only were about 30% higher than its Citilink subsidiary. Pre-COVID-19, Garuda had about three times the capacity of Citilink.
The Indonesian flag carrier said the number of international passengers fell 29.4% month-on-month to 10,055 in August, from 14,244 in July.
Indonesia's international borders remain largely closed, except for some official and business travel with China, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates. Talks are underway to restart travel between Indonesia and Singapore.
In other Indonesian aviation news, Bloomberg news agency reported this week Lion Air Group co-founder, Rusdi Kirana, was considering starting a new airline, citing unnamed sources familiar with the plan.
