We have already told you how much we appreciate the Garuda experience, many times lived in business or in first these last years.
Permanent instability at Garuda
But life is not easy for the Indonesian airline, which has seen over the last few years a succession of management teams, each as short-lived as the next, but each with a different strategy. Especially since the Indonesian government has a strong influence on the airline’s strategy and would obviously like to see it move towards a model that is, if not low-cost, then at least more affordable for local people.
With that, how do you want an airline to work sustainably its network with a coherent strategy in time?
The Indonesian airline has just announced the pure and simple stop of its service between London and Bali /Jakarta.
The Amsterdam-Jakarta service will be reduced from 6 to 3 weekly frequencies.
The adventures of the London-Jakarta line
There have been many changes in strategy at Garuda, particularly on the London-Jakarta route.
– Started in 1994 from Gatwick via Amsterdam.
• Moved to Heathrow in 2015, via Singapour.
– Non-stop service from Heathrow to Jakarta from 2017.
– Route discontinued in October 2018.
– Then announcement of the resumption of the route in November with a direct 777 then with an A330 via Singapore. Meanwhile, the First cabin had disappeared from the route.
– Starting in January a triangular route London-Bali / Bali-Jakarta-London will be set up.
– Last week announcement of the end of the service, again.
Garuda: a political and managerial mess
At TravelGuys we find this really regrettable because Garuda is a 5 star Skytrax airline totally unknown in Europe which offers an excellent quality of service. They were also named the best crews in the world by the same Skytrax ranking.
It is difficult to understand how a route between London and Indonesia cannot be profitable unless you admit that changes in programs, equipment and frequencies do not help a line to become established in the long term. And as mentioned above, the managerial instability and the pressure of a state that, like many other states, is a bad shareholder, weigh heavily on an airline’s ability to have a clear and sustainable industrial strategy that is not influenced by short-term ideological/demagogical aims.
But at the speed at which Garuda changes its mind, we can hope to see them again soon in the European sky.
In any case, here is a beautiful airline which deserves much better than the authorities and the leaders who are theirs.
