Garuda Indonesia, the flag carrier of Indonesia, has ordered 11 Airbus A330-300 aircraft for $2.54 billion. Airbus will deliver these aircraft between 2013 and 2017.
Garuda flies to many destinations in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia, Europe and the Middle East. The airline’s head office is located at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, near Jakarta, the Indonesian capital city. The Indonesian government owns most of the airline’s shares.
Garuda Airbus A330
This order, which is the third for the A330 over the past two years, will bring Garuda’s total order of the wide-body plane version to 21. In 2010, the airline signed an agreement with Airbus for 10 A330-200s. The airline also signed an agreement for 50 A320s for Citilink.
Garuda will operate the A330-300 aircraft on services from Denpasar and Jakarta to several destinations, including Asia, the Middle East and the Pacific.
Emirsyah Satar, Garuda president and chief executive, said, “The A330 has proven to be a key element in the success of the revitalised Garuda Indonesia. The low seat mile cost and high passenger appeal make the aircraft a perfect fit for our fleet and a firm favourite with our passengers”.
The airline will receive 21 aircraft in 2012: two A330-300s, 10 A320s, 4 Boeing 737-800s and 5 Bombardier CRJ1000 regional jets. This will expand its fleet from 87 to 105.
Satar said this purchase is part of the airline’s Quantum Leap program aimed at expanding Garuda’s fleet and add more medium- and long-haul flights. Satar said, “In line with the Quantum Leap program, Garuda will operate 194 aircraft in 2015, consisting of B737-800 Next Generations, A330-300s, A330-200s, B777-300ERs and A320s that are operated by Citilink, with an average fleet age of 5 years.”
Garuda plans to expand its fleet to 194 aircraft during the next 3 to 5 years.
Currently, Garuda operates eight A330-200s and six A330-300s.
David Cameroon, the UK prime minister, who was in Indonesia as part of his Southeast Asia trade tour, attended the contract signing ceremony. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Indonesia Prime Minister, was also at the signing ceremony.
UAL has no remaining A320/319 oerrds. United’s 2008 annual report stated they planned to forfeit their deposits but I believe they rolled them into the A350 order. This may explain the logic in the split B787/A350 order, i.e., preserve the A320deposits until the A350 delivery positions can be sold to another carrier. Continental’s CEO (the new UAL CEO) will never buy an Airbus due to close ties with Boeing.