NATIONAL carrier Garuda Indonesia recorded a net loss of US$33.7 million in the first quarter of 2013, which was over 200 per cent greater than the same period last year.
Attributing this to lesser domestic and international passenger demand in the first quarter, Garuda president and CEO, Emirsyah Satar, said: “All airlines (in Indonesia) have experienced a similar downturn in traffic demand. It is actually part of an airline cycle to have a slow first quarter.
“However, the flooding in Jakarta in the beginning of the year and the (regional) extreme weather in the first three months of the year made it worse.”
Despite the loss, the airline’s revenue in the first three months rose 12.5 per cent from US$717.4 million to US$807.2 million.
As a group – including Citilink – Garuda’s passenger market share increased from 30.3 per cent to 35.2 per cent while total passenger numbers grew 20.7 per cent to about 5.6 million during the period.
Having received four Airbus A320 aircraft for Citilink and two Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen aircraft for Garuda in the first three months, the group now boasts a 112-aircraft strong fleet.
