Indonesia’s national airline Garuda Indonesia and the Danish leasing firm Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) have signed a new agreement for the introduction of 35 new ATR 72-600 aircraft into Garuda’s fleet. This new deal for 35 ATRs, involving NAC as lessor for Garuda, includes orders for 25 firm aircraft and options for further 10. The order, including the options, is valued at over US$ 840 million.
The arrival of these new ATR 72-600s will start in November 2013. The aircraft will be configured with 70 seats, and will feature the “Armonia” cabin, giving the ATR ‘-600s’ the highest standards of comfort in a regional aircraft. The aircraft will be used for the development of both tourism and business throughout the Indonesian archipelago as well as to feed Garuda Indonesia’s main hubs.
President and Chief Executive Officer of Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar, said that the signing agreement is part of the airline’s “Quantum Leap 2011-2015” transformation and expansion program, especially to broaden and strengthen Garuda’s flight network domestically, while at the same time enhance service to the customers by offering a wider choice of destinations and travel options. He added: “We are very happy to be developing our regional business with ATR 72-600s, the aircraft which stand out as one of the best choice for short-haul flights and operations between the various islands of Indonesia. In deploying our airline, we need aircraft offering the latest in technology and comfort for our customers. ATR 72-600s provide the perfect combination of most modern technologies and lowest operating costs for regional networks.” Martin Møller, Chairman of NAC, declared: “We are pleased to further expand our business both with Garuda and ATR and to contribute to deploy optimal regional air connectivity across Indonesia. South East Asia is definitely providing us with huge leasing potential and the ATR 72-600s perfectly match the requirements for short-haul travel in terms of low operating costs, comfort and ability to operate in small airfields and remote areas”.
Filippo Bagnato, Chief Executive Officer of ATR, said: “We are honoured by the fact that Garuda Indonesia is selecting ATR aircraft to expand their regional business and we are pleased to further consolidate our partnership with NAC, which has been instrumental in cementing this deal. This agreement highlights the strong commercial success of the ATR 72-600 in Asia, where it has become the new benchmark for the development of regional air connectivity”. He also reaffirmed that “the deployment of the ATR customer support offer in Southeast Asia is a major component of our success and we will continue investing to support and further develop this growing region”.