Etihad Airways and Garuda Indonesia have announced a number of new codeshare destinations in Indonesia, Europe, the Middle East, Singapore and Australia.
The Abu Dhabi-based airline’s EY code is now on Garuda Indonesia flights between Jakarta and Singapore, Denpasar Bali, Manado, Surabaya, Balikpapan and Makassar and between Abu Dhabi and Amsterdam.
Garuda Indonesia has also placed its GA code on Etihad Airways’ flights to five new cities – Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Munich, Bahrain and Brussels – bringing the total number of codeshare destinations to 10.
Etihad Airways and Garuda Indonesia customers will benefit further from June 21 this year when Garuda Indonesia increases frequency between Jakarta and Abu Dhabi and onwards to Amsterdam from four to six flights weekly. This will bring to 13 the total number of weekly flights between the capital cities of Indonesia and the UAE.
In another significant move, from 21 June 2013, Etihad Airways will re-time its flights between Jakarta and Abu Dhabi to offer seamless connectivity to and from even more destinations in the airline’s global network. This will include Amman, Basra, Erbil, and Kuwait in the Middle East; Athens, Istanbul and Larnaca in southern Europe; Astana, Almaty, Moscow and Minsk in eastern Europe; Nairobi and Johannesburg in Africa; and Sao Paulo, Washington, New York JFK, Chicago and Toronto in the Americas.
Also in June, Garuda Indonesia will commence services between Jakarta and Perth, which will be operated with the EY code. These flights will be timed to connect with services to and from Abu Dhabi, giving customers of both airlines in the Middle East, Europe and beyond new access to Western Australia.
“The partnership between Etihad Airways and Garuda Indonesia continues to develop in a mutually beneficial way, adding new destinations, improving connectivity, and offering new customer benefits,” James Hogan, Etihad Airways’ President and Chief Executive Officer, said.
“Connection times to many popular destinations have been reduced to less than three hours. We also offer the fastest route from Jakarta to popular destinations like Manchester, Geneva and Brussels.
Hogan highlighted the strategic importance of the four new codeshare destinations in Indonesia. “The new points on the domestic network give us unprecedented access to more than six million potential Indonesian travelers and provide opportunities for deeper commercial ties to the oil, gas and mining industries in the region,” he said.
“The codeshare with Garuda Indonesia to Perth continues our expansion in Australia. It will further strengthen the Etihad Airways brand presence in Western Australia and pave the way for the airline to enter the market in its own right within the next two to three years,” Hogan, added.
Garuda Indonesia President and CEO Emirsyah Satar, welcomed the extended network of the codeshare agreement between Etihad and Garuda Indonesia to new destinations in Indonesia, Europe, the Middle East, Singapore and Australia. “This codeshare, which was signed in October last year, has been contributing significantly to the needs and satisfaction of our passengers, and gives them the benefit of the seamless and the very easy connectivity from Jakarta to the world,” Satar, said.
“The codeshare with Etihad is part of our effort to continuously improve our service to our customers by giving them the easy connectivity from Indonesia to more than 80 cities in 50 countries that are served by Etihad. In line with our “Quantum Leap 2011 – 2015” program especially our “network expansion program”, as well as opening some destinations with its own resources, Garuda Indonesia will also add some destinations to its network through the codeshare agreement and alliance,” Satar, added.
Guests flying Garuda Indonesia’s Executive Class may use the Etihad Airways’ Business Class lounge at Abu Dhabi International Airport, while Garuda Frequent Flyer Platinum members travelling economy from Abu Dhabi on either airline may also use the Al Dhabi lounge while in transit in Abu Dhabi.