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March 05, 2014

Garuda officially joins SkyTeam, the global airline alliance



SkyTeam Announces Garuda Indonesia’s Date of Joining


20th member sets alliance on course for growth in Asia Pacific region in March 2014

AMSTERDAM, 16 December 2013 – SkyTeam, the global airline alliance, will welcome Garuda Indonesia as its 20th member on March 5, 2014. The national airline of Indonesia, Garuda will become SkyTeam’s second member from Southeast Asia.

Garuda Indonesia hosted a lavish celebration at Bali's fabulous Mulia resort to celebrate its accession into the SkyTeam airline alliance on Wednesday 5th March 2014. Travel Daily was among the throng of global media present, and recorded the official signing ceremony in this exclusive video.

Garuda’s membership of SkyTeam will facilitate travel to Indonesia - Southeast Asia’s largest economy - for customers around the world. Garuda operates nonstop flights from Jakarta, the nation’s capital and financial center, to seven SkyTeam hubs: Seoul, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Amsterdam. 

 “SkyTeam brings more than 1,020 global destinations to Garuda customers. In addition to an extensive network, dedicated services such as SkyPriority and access to over 530 lounges will be amongst the benefits that Garuda customers will gain from being part of the SkyTeam alliance,” said Michael Wisbrun, SkyTeam’s managing director. “Garuda is on target to meet all the membership criteria required by SkyTeam, including implementing a new IT platform and customer-focused initiatives.  We look forward to welcoming the airline on 5 March next year.”

Garuda Indonesia’s President  & CEO, Emirsyah Satar, expressed his gratitude to SkyTeam and all of the member airlines for all the support given to the airline thus far. Joining SkyTeam is a long-term development strategy for Garuda Indonesia, as planned in the airline’s strategic expansion program “Quantum Leap 2011 – 2015, and Garuda has been upgrading its service and actively forging cooperation with SkyTeam member airlines with this objective in mind.

“Joining SkyTeam marks another significant milestone in the company’s development, as we are now entering the stage of being a global player. This is part of our strategy to extend our network worldwide while at the same time improving our service by facilitating a seamless and more convenient travel experience for our customers,” said Satar.    



For more information:
SkyTeam
Corporate Communications
T: +31 (0)20 333 3064


About SkyTeam

SkyTeam is a global airline alliance providing customers from member airlines access to an extensive global network with more destinations, more frequencies and more connectivity. Passengers can earn and redeem Frequent Flyer Miles throughout the SkyTeam network. SkyTeam member airlines offer customers access to 525 lounges worldwide. The nineteen members are: Aeroflot, Aerolíneas Argentinas, Aeroméxico, Air Europa, Air France, Alitalia, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Kenya Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Korean Air, Middle East Airlines, Saudia, TAROM, Vietnam Airlines and Xiamen Airlines. SkyTeam offers its 552 million annual customers over 15,000 daily flights to 1,000 destinations in 187 countries.

www.skyteam.com / www.facebook.com/skyteam / www.youtube.com/user/skyteam



You travel, we make your journey smoother, simpler, we make it seamless. With a global coverage of over 15,700 daily flights to 1,064 destinations in 178 countries, the SkyTeam network offers you more destinations, more connections and an ease of travel through the world's best airports.

Our member airlines:

Aeroflot
Aerolíneas Argentinas
Aeromexico
Air Europa
Air France
Alitalia
China Airlines
China Eastern
China Southern
Czech Airlines
Delta Air Lines
Garuda Indonesia
Kenya Airways
KLM
Korean Air
Middle East Airlines
Saudia
TAROM
Vietnam Airlines
Xiamen Ai


Garuda Indonesia president director Emirsyah Satar said that the airline had taken a giant leap by becoming a SkyTeam member, as the airline could be connected to routes belonging to other SkyTeam member airlines, including KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Air France, Kenya Airways, Korean Air, China Airlines, Air Europa and Delta Airlines.

“Given that Garuda has a strong network position in Australia and Southeast Asia, we believe that we are also able to offer an extensive network of 40 unique destinations that ideally complement SkyTeam’s global network,” Emirsyah said during the signing ceremony on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, SkyTeam managing director Michael Wisbrun said Garuda strengthened the alliance’s presence throughout the Asia-Pacific region with its 588 million global passengers.

“SkyTeam aims to boost its members’ competitiveness by strengthening network and hubs, enhancing its global footprint, improving customer experience and introducing innovative initiatives that enhance customer benefits,” he said.

Emirsyah said that by joining SkyTeam, the airline expected an additional 3 to 5 percent in passenger growth added onto the current existing target of 24 million in 2014.

“However, I don’t think this will immediately have an effect this year, because it takes time, as we have to work together with other airlines. Probably we will start to see the effect in 2015,” Emirsyah told reporters, adding that the airline’s passenger total rose 22.3 percent to 20.4 million in 2013.

The airline’s entry into SkyTeam is part of the flag carrier’s continued push into the premium travel market. Garuda committed to join SkyTeam in 2010, and had since fulfilled all the necessary entry requirements, Emirsyah said.

“In terms of the cost and benefit, we feel that the benefit is more [than the cost] otherwise we wouldn’t join,” Emirsyah said. “By joining the alliance we are able to expand our network without buying new aircraft. We also get to become global standard.”

Separately, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said that Garuda’s entry into SkyTeam would hopefully boost the number of foreign tourists to Indonesia.

“Three of the members are Chinese airlines, which would boost our connectivity to Chinese tourists, our main targeted group,” she told reporters on the sidelines of the signing ceremony.


Quoted from the Jakarta Post 


About Garuda Indonesia

Garuda Indonesia is the “flag carrier” of Indonesia operating 131 aircraft to serve 39 domestic destinations and 20 international destinations across Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Europe, out of its four hubs in Indonesia, namely Jakarta, Denpasar, Makassar, and Medan. In line with improvements in various aspects of its performance and service, Garuda Indonesia has won a number of accolades and recognition from both national and international institutions, including “The World’s Best Economy Class” award from Skytrax in June 2013 and the “Best in Region: Asia and Australasia”, by the “Airline Passenger Experience Association (APEX)”, in September 2013. For further information, please log on to www.garuda-indonesia.com, or follow @IndonesiaGaruda on Twitter.



Garuda Indonesia Press Contact
Pujobroto     
VP Corporate Communications
Tel.: +62 21 2560 1068
Source :SkyTeam Press Release 

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