Garuda, Indonesia’s national airliner, will join the global SkyTeam alliance during a ceremony here Wednesday. Emirsyah Satar, president and CEO of Garuda, called it a momentous occasion in the history of the airline, which plays a big role in connecting Southeast Asia with Saudi Arabia and other GCC countries.
Garuda will become the 20th airline to join the alliance, along with Saudi Arabian Airlines (Saudia) and 18 other airlines including Air France, KLM, Delta, China Airlines, Air Europa, Alitalia and MEA. The alliance offers its customers more than 15,000 daily flights to over 1,000 destinations in 178 countries.
The SkyTeam event to welcome Garuda is held in Bali, one of the beautiful islands of Indonesia. The event will be attended by top executives from member airlines, including Abdul Aziz Al-Hazmi, CEO of Saudi Arabian Airlines Company.
“We have made a lot of preparations to join SkyTeam,” said the president and praised the hard work of the airline’s dedicated team. He called it another milestone for the airline. “Indeed, joining SkyTeam provides added value not only for Garuda but also its customers. It will also fortify our position as a global player,” he said.
“Our passengers will also be able to get access to SkyTeam lounges available in more than 550 destinations, and redeem mileage gained from flights with other SkyTeam members,” Satar pointed out.
Garuda’s network will enhance SkyTeam’s presence and connectivity in Southeast Asia. It currently operates 39 domestic and 20 international destinations across Asia, Middle East, Australia and Europe including six SkyTeam hubs: Seoul, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Taipei and Amsterdam.
Garuda has won two awards recently. The excellent service experience awards (ESEA) 2014 for the categories of Airline Ground Handling and Airline Cabin Service. Garuda won the world’s Best Economy Class Award from Skytrax in 2013 and the CEO said it was because of the airline’s spacious seats, best meals served to passengers and best services being rendered by its cabin crew to customers.
Garuda set to join SkyTeam alliance
