Garuda Indonesia and Indonesia AirAsia (IAA) both plan to increase flights from Medan, to connect the North Sumatra’s capital city with major and secondary cities in the country and major tourist destinations across Southeast Asia.
Garuda Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar said the airline recently linked Medan with Batam, Riau Islands; Padang, West Sumatra, and Palembang, South Sumatra with a new Canadian-made aircraft, the Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen, which can carry 96 passengers.
After connecting Medan with the three destinations in Sumatra, the airline plans to further expand its flight services to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Penang will be Garuda’s first new international destination and flights are due to begin on June 1.
separately AirAsia will link Medan with Jakarta and Johor Bahru, Malaysia, on May 16 and June 7, respectively. To support its expansion, IAA is aiming to add one more Airbus 320 to its fleet in Medan in the near future.