Increase Cargo Revenue, Garuda Indonesia Boosts International Flights For Exports

Garuda Indonesia cargo plane. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk Irfan Setiaputra said the contribution of cargo to the company's revenue has decreased compared to during the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, the contribution of cargo to revenue during the pandemic is more than 30 percent. "Now, compared to the increasing number of passengers, of course, the contribution of this cargo has finally decreased compared to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are talking proportionally, yes, because the income from passengers has increased. very drastic," he told VOI when met at the Garuda Indonesia office, quoted on Wednesday, June 8. Even so, Irfan remains optimistic about Garuda Indonesia's cargo services. This year, Garuda Indonesia has set a target for the contribution of cargo to the company's revenue to be in the double digits. Therefore, Garuda continues to take initiatives to improve cargo services. "We hope that this year, we can reach the double digit range, approaching 20 percent, we will continue to take many initiatives to increase this cargo. Especially domestic and international flights to support exports, "He said. Irfan said, this step was carried out in accordance with the company's plan where Garuda's international flights must be profitable both in passenger and cargo services. So the contents of the cargo must be very large before the pandemic," he said.

Previously, Irfan said that his company consistently managed to record increasingly promising growth in cargo transportation. Until last May 2021, the Garuda Indonesia Group managed to record cargo transportation growth of up to 35 percent compared to the same period in 2020. Furthermore, Irfan said, this consistency was in line with the cargo business performance at the end of 2020 where the company managed to record transportation air cargo traffic which touched the level of 99 percent of cargo transportation performance in the period before the pandemic. "With this positive growth trend, Garuda Indonesia will continue to optimize fleet utilization for the expansion of its cargo flight network to support direct call activities for leading export commodities and MSMEs from various parts of Indonesia. One of them is through the operation of two passenger freighter fleets which now serve a number of domestic and international cargo flights," he said in his official statement, Friday, July 16, 2021.