1 June 2011, Makassar, Indonesia – Today, I experienced Garuda Indonesia’s inaugural flight GA 849 from Singapore to Makassar. Garuda Indonesia is the only airline offering direct daily flights on its Boeing B737-500 airplanes from Singapore to Makassar situated in South Sulawesi and vice versa. After breezing through a quick check in at Row 1 in Changi Airport’s Terminal 3, Eunice from Travelerfolio.com and I finished up the chicken, biscuit and mash potatoes that I had doggie bagged from Popeye Louisiana Kitchen’s latest outlet in Basement 2 of Orchard Exchange.
After our leisurely walk to Gate B3, we boarded the aircraft, which was a fraction of Singapore Airline’s A380 next to it. After entering the plane to a warm polite greeting from the head purser, Eunice and I had to split ways. I sat myself comfortably at the first row while Eunice was 3 rows behind me. The aircraft seats 12 in Business Class and 84 in Economy. The flight departed promptly at 6.50pm. The flight was very smooth and the landing was close to immaculate. Ahead of the scheduled 3 hours, we arrived at Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in Unjung Pandang (International airport code UPG) at around 9.50pm.
Garuda Indonesia Makes Makassar Its Third Hub
Makassar is Garuda Indonesia’s latest hub, after Jakarta and Denpasar. Announced on 31 May 2011, PT. Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk., Makassar is Garuda Indonesia’s third hub to the east as part of the airline’s network expansion strategy as well as to align with the government’s programme “Six National Economic Development Corridor Concept”.
The Makassar hub will see Garuda Indonesia flights to thirteen new domestic and international destinations including Ambon, Balikpapan, Biak, Denpasar, Jakarta, Jayapura, Palu, Surabaya, Gorontalo, Manado, Ternate, Timika and Singapore.
In a press released sent out by Garuda Indonesia, it is mentioned that the development of Makassar is timely when the Sulawesi Economic Corridor is being developed as the front line of the national economy against the growing markets in East Asia, Australia and America. Garuda Indonesia also has plans in the future for Medan to be the next hub for Sumatra and the surrounding regions.
“The Indonesian President has also stated that the government’s main mission for the next five years will be to carry out “debottlenecking”, acceleration and expansion of national economic development. To this end, the government, business sector and state-owned enterprises must work together in pursuit of the targeted national economic growth in line with the Indonesian Economic Development Expansion and Acceleration Master Plan 2011-2015,” the Minister of State Owned Enterprise for Indonesia, Mustafa Abubakar said.
Meanwhile, the Governor of South Sulawesi, Sahrul Yasin Limpo, warmly welcomed Garuda Indonesia’s efforts to develop Makassar as its hub. “As one of the most strategically positioned and fast growing metropolitan cities in the archipelago, Makassar will undoubtedly benefit a great deal from this endeavor. I am confident that in Makassar and in other cities in the eastern part of Indonesia, businesses and the economy in the region will thrive. Makassar will be the first to connect cities in eastern part with cities in the western part of the archipelago and abroad,” he said. “In addition, this new development will further ensure the success of the Visit South Sulawesi 2012 program,” he added.
Garuda Indonesia has launched the Quantum Leap programme, growing its fleet from 84 aircraft to 153 which consists of B737-800NGs, A330-200s and B777-300ERs.
Garuda Indonesia Flight Expansion Plans
In anticipation of growing passenger demand, Garuda Indonesia has also increased its flight frequency on serveral routes including:
-
Jakarta – Palembang (from 8 to 9 flights per day)
-
Jakarta – Batam (from 2 to 4 flights per day)
-
Jakarata – Padang (from 3 to 4 flights per day)
-
Jakarta – Surabaya (from 15 to 17 flights per day)
-
Jakarta – Balikpapan (from 7 to 8 flights per day)
-
Yogyakarta – Denpasar (from 2 to 3 flights per day)
-
Surabaya – Denpasar ( from 3 to 4 flights per day)
-
Surabaya – Makassar (from 1 to 2 flights per day)
-
Jakarta – Beijing (from 3 to 5 flights per week)
-
Denpasar – Seoul (from 3 to 5 flights per week)
-
Jakarta – Singapore (Now serving 8 flights per day from the previously 7 times)
-
Jakarta – Bangkok (from 1 to 2 flights per day)
New Hangar Facility in Makassar
PT. Garuda Maintenance Facility AeroAsia (GMF-AA) and PT. Angkasa Pura I (PAP I) signed an agreement for the construction of a hangar located a the old Hasanuddin Airport Makassar.
This new hangar is expected to serve the increasing number of aircraft that fly through Makassar, which is one of the busiest airports after Jakarta. In the future, light and middle maintenance of aircraft can easily be done in the GMF-AA hangar in Makassar
Reporting “live” from Makassar Golden Hotel….
Related articles
- Double Daily Flights on Garuda Indonesia’s Bangkok-Jakarta Route (superadrianme.com)
Pingback: Garuda Indonesia Launches Singapore – Makassar Route in June 2011 | SUPERADRIANME
Pingback: Garuda Indonesia Flies Singapore-Makassar Route in June 2011 | SUPERADRIANME
woah u r so fast! 😛 Thanks for the mention! Will blog about it today. ^^ Quite a nice experience especially with the right company!