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Published on June 26, 2014

With six more ATR72- 600 aircrafts arriving in the coming days, Garuda Indonesia will immediately increase its domestic network to smaller but potentialy significant economic growth centers across the Indonesian archipelago, said Emirsyah Satar, CEO of Garuda Indonesia .

Giving a talk at the Indonesia Supply Chain Management Summit in Bali recently, Emirsyah said that cities to be connected by the ATR 720-600 this year are Luwuk (Central Sulawesi), Mamuju (West Sulawesi), Putussibau (West Kalimantan) and Bima (West Nusatenggara). These cities will be served from Garuda hubs. While starting next year, the airline will serve Wangi-Wangi (Southeast Sulawesi), the airport to the fabulous Wakatobi underwater paradise.

Already this year , Garuda has connected Surabaya and Bali with the new up and coming destinations around Banyuwangi (East Java) , and flies from Medan and Jakarta to Sibolga, a harbor on the west coast of North Sumatra. The airline’s Bali-Komodo airport flights have also supported the rapid tourism growth on Labuan Bajo, capital of the regency of West Manggarai on Flores.

ATR-72-600 is a resilient turboprop aircraft that has the capacity to take off and land on short and narrow runways of less than 1,000 meters in length or 3,2800 feet, and a width of less than 14 meters or 46 feet. The plane is also equipped with inflight entertainment system and LED cabin lighting.

ATR is manufactured in Toulouse, South of France, and is a joint venture between Aerospatiale and Aeritalia , reports Kompas daily.

Garuda’s Banyuwangi flights in the east-most corner of East Java has proven to be popular, while the city of Banyuwangi has taken full advantage from these flights through the organization of events such as the Pulau Merah Beach Surfing Competition, and its tourist office has also gone online.

On the occasion, Garuda Indonesia announced that the airline together with its subsidiary, Citilink, have prepared over 1.7 million seats to support the expected exodus from large cities to the regions for the Iedul Fitri – or Lebaran – festivities and holidays.. Additional seats are made available from 7 days before Lebaran to 7 days after Lebaran.

This year, the Ramadhan Fasting month starts on Saturday, 28 June or Sunday, 29 June, while Lebaran will fall on 28 and 29 July 2014.

Photo: indo-aviation.com