Asita Values Garuda Has Improved The 2024 Hajj Transport Service

JAKARTA - The Association of Indonesian Tourism Companies (Asita) assesses that Garuda Indonesia airlines have made improvements related to Hajj transportation services in 2024.

"It seems that (Garuda Indonesia) has improved even though there are still many delays (hajj transportation)," said Secretary General of the Central Executive Board (DPP) Asita Budijanto Ardiansjah as quoted by ANTARA, Sunday, July 14.

Budijanto gave a positive assessment of Garuda Indonesia's efforts to improve Hajj transportation services. Although there are still delays in Hajj flights, they can be overcome.

He believes the airline has made improvements in terms of service even though some flights have experienced delays.

Even so, there were no reports of flight cancellations, which showed that all departures were successfully implemented.

"This year, Garuda Indonesia's Hajj service which I heard was indeed widely recommended because there were many delays. However, I didn't hear until the cancellation, meaning that all departures were successfully carried out," he said.

Asita saw that the delays that occurred were caused by the limited fleet owned by Garuda Indonesia.

This can affect the next flight schedule because replacement planes are not always available on time.

Budijanto believes that in terms of service, Garuda Indonesia has shown a fairly good increase.

However, special attention needs to be paid to the limited fleet, which is the main factor in delays.

"The delay could have occurred due to the limited fleet owned by Garuda so that if it happens or delays it will result in dominoes at the next departure while replacement planes are not available," he explained.

The Hajj transportation program carried out by Garuda Indonesia only occurs once a year, during the Hajj season, so the strengthening of the fleet must be carefully considered.

However, he admits, the challenge of strengthening the fleet is not easy because it requires large financial investment.

"But, of course, strengthening this fleet is not an easy thing because it requires very large financing and Hajj transportation served by Garuda only once a year during the Hajj season," said Budijanto.

Asita hopes that Garuda Indonesia will continue to strengthen its fleet to reduce potential delays in the future.

Previously, the President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra, emphasized that his party continues to intensify various mitigation measures in optimizing the smooth running of Hajj flights to ensure the focus of flight safety can be maintained.

He did not deny that there were several crucial records of flight delays on the departure of a number of groups from several embarkations, one of which was due to a number of flight schedule adjustments in the departure group.

"We ensure that the management and all teams in charge continue to work hard to make every effort to improve this, including by optimizing the readiness of the Hajj flight fleet through the use of aircraft currently operated for regular flights," said Irfan in a statement in Jakarta, Monday, May 27.