DALLAS – Jakarta-based Garuda Indonesia (GA) will increase the frequency of internal flights on 16 domestic routes across the country to stimulate tourism flows. Tempo reports that the increased flight schedule will operate from April to August 2024.

The carrier will operate the additional frequencies on flights from Jakarta (CGK), the country’s capital. GA will increase flights to Palembang (PLM) from 24 to 32 flights per week; Yogyakarta (YIA) from 28 to 35 flights per week; Pontianak (PNK) from 13 to 19 flights per week; Batam (BTH) from 14 to 21 flights per week); Pekanbaru (PKU) from 14 to 21 flights per week); Padang (PDG) from 14 to 19 flights per week; Semarang (SRG) from 21 to 26 flights per week; Balikpapan (BPN) from 14 to 19 flights per week); Makassar (UPG) from 17 to 21 weekly flights; and Banda Aceh (BTJ) from 14 to 15.

Increased frequencies will be offered from Jakarta to Pangkalpinang (PGK) from 7 to 9 flights per week; Tanjung Pinang (TNJ) from 6 to 7 flights per week; Malang (MLG) from 4 to 7 flights per week; Lombok (LOP) from 12 to 16 flights per week. The airline will ramp up flights between Denpasar (DPS) and Labuan Bajo (LBJ) from 1 to 3 flights per week, as well as between Makassar (UPG) and Gorontalo (GTO) from 5 to 7 flights per week. 

Garuda has optimized its fleet, allowing the airline to expand its flight schedule and open new routes. The airline will introduce services between Jakarta and Doha (DOH), which will operate seven times per week, starting April 4. It will also launch flights between Makassar (UPG) and Manado route (MDC), which will operate twice a week beginning on May 3.

Boosting Tourism

Garuda Indonesia’s president director Irfan Setiaputra hopes that the additional frequencies will attract tourists to visit various places in the island. It primarily aims to attract foreign tourists to visit outlying destinations in  Indonesia. 

Setiaputra says that increased flight frequency will positively impact the national economy through improved widespread tourist visits. He said, “Amid the optimism in the growth of the global tourism industry, the increase of flight frequency is one of the stimuli for people’s traveling trend,” Irfan said in a written statement received by Tempo on Friday, March 1, 2024.