National airline Garuda Indonesia has resumed its flight from Medan, North Sumatra to Singapore in a move to expand its international route, invigorate tourism, and meet the needs of the business people of North Sumatra and surrounding areas.
The flight will serve customers from major cities in Sumatra such as Palembang, Padang, Banda Aceh, and Lampung, who wish to fly to Singapore without going through a layover in Jakarta.
The nonstop flight that won’t have to stop over in Jakarta is seen to entice people from Medan and its surrounding areas to embark on more trips, as the airline has just begun a flight to London via Singapore.
M Arif Wibowo, chairman of Garuda Indonesia, said in a statement, “With this Medan to Singapore flight and vice versa, we seek to elevate Garuda Indonesia’s position in the Singaporean market, especially considering the importance of the diplomatic relationship between Indonesia and Singapore.”
Medan has a number of tourism potentials, and Arif said he hoped the new route would strengthen the tourism sector.
The resumption of flights on this route comes close on the heels of the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community this year that fosters greater connectivity among the member states.
This is the second international flight route to depart from Medan that has been started by the airline, following the opening of the Medan-Jeddah frequency in December last year.
As part of its expansion program in 2016, the group is adding 17 new airplanes to its fleet, consisting of a Boeing 777-300ER, four Airbus A330-300s, four ATR72-600s, as well as eight Airbus A320s for Citilink, its subsidiary budget carrier serving mainly domestic flights.
By the end of 2016, the company will be operating a total of 197 airplanes, 144 of which will be with Garuda Indonesia, and 53 with Citilink.
