Garuda 'ready to move' to new Terminal 3

JAKARTA. State-owned airline Garuda Indonesia has said it is ready to move all of its domestic flights to the newly built Terminal 3 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten.

“Basically, we are ready to move but we need to wait for final approval from the Transportation Ministry,” Garuda Indonesia president director M. Arif Wibowo said in a public expose at his office on Jl. Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, on Monday.

Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi said earlier that the new terminal, which highlighted “art and design” as its interior concept, would begin operating on Aug. 9.

On Monday, several airlines set to move to the new terminal performed a simulation of passenger flows and baggage handling.

Arif said seven days would be enough for Garuda to make announcements about the transfer of its domestic passenger services to the new terminal.

He added that the new Terminal 3 would be a good base for Garuda to intensify its hub business, especially once all international flights were moved there. Currently, he said, most Garuda international transits were dominated by transfers from international to domestic flights.

“We are targeting that with the new terminal, transfers from international to international flights can reach 30 percent of total transits,” Arif said. (Anton Hermansyah)