(7/19/2008)
Garuda's fleet of new Boeing 737-800 New Generation aircraft have begun to arrive in Indonesia from their production plant in Seattle, Washington (U.S.A.).
Quoted by Tempo Interaktif, the CEO of the Airline, Emirsyah Satar said on Thursday, July 17th, "one unit arrives on Friday and another one next month."
The new aircraft is being provided to the Indonesian flag carrier under a "dry lease" agreement worth a total of US$40 million per aircraft. Under the terms of a "dry lease" Garuda rents only the airplanes providing their own pilots, crew, maintenance, fuel and insurance coverage. Despite the high rental rates, Emirsyah insisted "the main point is that we will profit because these new aircraft are 20% more fuel efficient than their predecessors."
Emir said the new Boeing 737-800NG will be used initially to increase flight frequencies to Perth and Hong Kong. On longer routes Garuda will employ Boeing 777-300 Extended Range aircraft.
Garuda presently operates a fleet of 49 aircraft, targeting to soon have 50 Boeing 737-800NG and 10 Boeing 777-300ER operating under its colors.
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