Garuda orders 18 Bombardier CRJ1000 Nextgen aircraft

Garuda Indonesia, announced that it will acquire up to 18 Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft to boost its domestic and regional operations.

Garuda Indonesia will operate 18 CRJ1000s and options for an additional 18 aircraft. Five aircraft will be joining Garuda Indonesia’s fleet starting October until December this year.

Garuda Indonesia will operate the newly ordered CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft on high density short and medium-range routes out of its domestic hubs in Makassar, Medan and Balikpapan. The airline will take delivery of the first five CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft in the fourth quarter of 2012.

Emirsyah Satar, President and CEO, Garuda Indonesia said: “These new CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft will be an important part of our ongoing fleet expansion and rejuvenation programme under our Quantum Leap strategy. This is a very efficient and comfortable aircraft, which I believe, will be giving a more comfort to our customers on domestic and regional operations”. Speaking at the Singapore Airshow, Mr Satar added: “With this new aircraft in our fleet, we will be able to add new destinations and more frequent connections which will provide travellers with more convenient access to our regional and long-haul network”.

Garuda Indonesia’s fleet expansion is an integral part of the airline’s ‘Quantum Leap’ strategy, which aims to boost the airline’s competitiveness significantly by 2015. The airline plans to almost double its current fleet of 89 aircraft to 154 aircraft over the next three years.