(6/25/2007)
Garuda Indonesia's President Director, Emirsyah Satar has signaled that, barring unforeseen difficulties, the national carrier could resume service to Amsterdam as soon as 2008.
In a general abandonment of its European route network, Garuda stopped flying to Amsterdam in 2004.
According to local press reports, Garuda is in the process of applying for the necessary traffic rights to fly to Schiphol and determining what type of aircraft from their current armada or other sources is best suited to serve this route.
The Commercial and Marketing Director of Garuda, Agus Priyanto, told the Bali Post that he feels confident that the Airline can achieve traffic loads of between 70-80% on flights between Amsterdam and Indonesia. Priyanto added that Garuda will, however, have to address branding issues in the European market in order to secure its share of the lucrative premium and business segments. Equally important, according to Priyanto, is a system of strategic alliances with European carriers willing to provide a feeder-network of passengers from other destination within continental Europe.
Industry observers believe Garuda's most fundamental obstacle to resuming European service will be securing an aircraft at a price it can afford to fly the route.
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