Garuda Airlines to Open New Route Makassar-Medan-Jeddah

Batam, Riau Islands (Antara) - Garuda Indonesia Airlines (GIA) will open a new flight route from Makassar (South Sulawesi) to Medan (North Sumatera) to Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) in February 2014 to facilitate Umrah pilgrims arriving from Sumatera. The Garuda Indonesia Airlines' Senior Manager of Business Development Region I Sumatera Husein Abdurrrahman said in Batam, on Friday, that Umrah customers from Sumatera typically had depart for Jeddah via Jakarta, making the ticket more expensive and the trip much longer than necessary. "With the new flight route Makassar-Medan-Jeddah, we hope the Umrah pilgrimage will be more affordable and easier for customers," Husein noted during the opening ceremony of the Batam Travel Viesta. Besides this, the opening of the new route to Jeddah was also expected to decrease foreign flight density at Soekarno-Hatta Airport. GIA will operate the Boeing 747 plane 400 series with a capacity of about 300 persons and will fly four times a week. According to Husein, due to the high interest in travelling to Mecca, based on 95 percent booked seats from Jakarta to Jeddah, GIA has targeted 70 percent of the seats for the new route being booked. In the near future, GIA will also open a new flight route between Surabaya (East Java) and Jeddah to meet the high demand from customers in East Java. "The high demand during Umrah has increased even further in Jakarta, and by opening new routes from other cities to Jeddah, we want to contribute toward easing flight traffic at Soekarno-Hatta Airport," Husein claimed. Regarding the Batam Travel Fiesta, GIA has targeted Rp5 billion in transactions, higher than the previous event, which earned Rp3 billion. Ten travel agents participated in the Batam Travel Fiesta, offering trips to various destinations, air tickets, hotel bookings, and other services. (*)