The chief of Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra, has confirmed that the airline will offer additional frequency on domestic flights that are performing well. He further explained that the move was in line with the airline’s efforts to maximize the availability of flight services, especially in the midst of the current recovery momentum of the tourism industry.
"The additional frequency is carried out in stages through a series of evaluations, especially on routes that contribute positively to the company's performance, and periodically continue to be aligned with the availability of the fleet," he said in an official statement. "This additional flight frequency is a form of our commitment as a national flag carrier to ensure that air connectivity for the community can be fulfilled properly, especially ahead of the peak season period at the end of the year.”
Irfan added that the increase was also a projection of the company's optimism for positive future performance. "Where we will continue to accelerate our performance growth through the alignment of the capacity of production equipment with market demand which continues to grow consistently amid various steps to accelerate the handling of the pandemic," he said.
Garuda is returning to profitability along with passenger demand, reporting a pre-tax profit of $4 billion for the six months to 30 June 2022 period, compared to a pre-tax loss of $985 million during the same period in 2021. Garuda posted a net profit of $3.76 billion, reversing the $902 million net loss in 2021. Revenue rose by more than a quarter year on year to $879 million, while costs fell 12% to $1.2 billion thanks to the continued restructuring efforts, which were buoyed by the airline filing for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the US.
Irfan stated on September 27 when the filing was made that more than 95% of its creditors, have provided their trust to the airline, approving the airline’s restructuring plan that is believed to have saved close to $2.9bn.
By the end of the year, Garuda expects to operate a fleet of 61 aircraft, with low-cost unit Citilink to have 58 aircraft. The airline also expects to return all its CRJ1000 regional aircraft.