Garuda Indonesia Expands Cargo Connectivity, This Time Routes To Saigon Vietnam

Irfan Setiaputra, President Director of Garuda Indonesia. (Photo: personal, DI: Raga/VOI)

JAKARTA – The national airline Garuda Indonesia continues to expand the connectivity of its international cargo flight network, this time to Saigon, Vietnam via the "Makassar - Singapore - Saigon - Jakarta" flight route. The route is officially served on December 15, 2021 with the Airbus A330-300 fleet once per week.

The expansion of cargo flight service connectivity to Saigon is in line with the potential for trade between Indonesia and Vietnam which shows promising potential where the value of trade between the two countries has increased periodically to more than 66 percent over the last three years.

President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra, said that the expansion of the cargo flight network to Vietnam is a continuous step by Garuda Indonesia in maximizing the potential for direct calls between the two countries for various nationally superior export commodities, such as manufactured products, garments, spare parts, to maritime commodities.

In the initial stage, the cargo flight service to Saigon, Vietnam was served by charter flights departing from Makassar to Singapore at 15.15 LT, then followed by flights to Saigon, Vietnam which departed from Singapore at 19.55 LT and arrived in Saigon at 21.20. LT.

"The expansion of this special cargo route connectivity is one of the business opportunities that we will continue to optimize on an ongoing basis, in line with the trend of cargo transportation needs which we project will continue to grow in the future," said Irfan Setiaputra, adding that with this commitment, Garuda Indonesia to Q3-2021 managed to record an increase in international cargo traffic by 90 percent—compared to the same period in the previous year.

Furthermore, Irfan explained that optimizing international cargo shipping services has an important meaning; not only for efforts to restore Garuda Indonesia's performance, but also for Garuda Indonesia's role as a national flag carrier in supporting national export activities. In this regard, Garuda Indonesia has previously supported a number of direct call activities for the delivery of export commodities, including: delivery of local industrial products in the form of shoes from Jakarta to Milan, Italy; shipping marine products from Jakarta to Taipei, Taiwan; to the initial export of white pepper from Pangkal Pinang to Canada and Amsterdam.