Traffic Increases, Garuda Indonesia Will Add Umrah Flights Next Year

Illustration (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Garuda Indonesia airline projects 2024 as a momentum for the growth of Umrah flight traffic.

To accommodate this growth, Garuda will increase the frequency of Umrah flights from Jakarta in 2024.

President Director of Garuda Indonesia, Irfan Setiaputra, said that Garuda Indonesia will realize a number of Umrah flight service development initiatives, including the expansion of the flight network and increasing flight frequency next year.

"The frequency of Umrah flights from Jakarta is 15 times per week. Consisting of 12 flights to Jeddah and 3 flights to Medina in early 2024," said Irfan in an official statement, in Jakarta, Friday, December 1.

Irfan said this optimistic step was in line with the positive performance of Garuda Indonesia's Umrah business line throughout 2023, where Garuda Indonesia managed to transport at least 386,635 pilgrims in the January-October 2023 period.

This number increased by 86.97 percent compared to the same period the previous year when Garuda Indonesia again began operating flights to the Holy Land during the pandemic transition to endemic.

With this positive performance, Garuda Indonesia in the period of YTD October 2023 managed to record revenue growth from the Umrah flight business line of 102 percent when compared to revenue in the same period in 2022.

"In addition to representing the public's interest in worshiping the Holy Land, the positive trend of the Umrah business in 2023 also illustrates optimism about halal travel in Indonesia in 2024, which of course must be addressed as a positive momentum in maximizing flight market opportunities for Umrah pilgrims in Indonesia," said Irfan.

Develop Umrah Aviation Network

Irfan said, Garuda Indonesia in 2024 will continue to develop Umrah flight networks from various cities in Indonesia, one of which is from Solo, complementing a number of direct Indonesian-Saudi Arabia flight routes which have been inaugurated throughout 2023.

Furthermore, Irfan said to realize an efficient travel time, Garuda Indonesia will continue to strive to implement the best flight schedule so that all Umrah flights are optimally connected to the domestic flight schedule for and to various cities from the congregation.

In the business aspect, development steps are also realized through the implementation of the Garuda Umrah Group Booking Reservation System starting December 8, 2023.

Through this system, all Umrah Travel Organizing agents (PPIU) can end-to-end business processes for purchasing Umrah group tickets, ranging from reservations to ticket issuance, independently and in real time (24 hours).

"This step is a form of our commitment to providing reliable infrastructure for all of our partners, so that it will provide convenience and efficiency in the reservation process that previously had to be done manually," concluded Irfan.