David Eyre 5 March 2014 © David Eyre
Garuda became the 20th airline to formally join the SkyTeam airline alliance at a signing ceremony held at 4:30pm today, at The Mulia resort in Nusa Dua, Bali. This Boeing 737 was repainted in SkyTeam livery in late February 2014, and entered service by 1 March. This was its first visit to Perth in this special livery. Flight GA727 to Denpasar, Bali, after takeoff from runway 03 at 07:18.
Photo © David Eyre
Garuda Indonesia today became the 20th airline to formally join the SkyTeam airline alliance, and the second Asian airline, at a signing ceremony held at 4:30pm today, at The Mulia resort in Nusa Dua, Bali.
Boeing 737 PK-GMH, which was recently repainted in SkyTeam livery (in late February 2014), visited Perth today – the same day as the airline officially joined SkyTeam. PK-GMH arrived at 12.35am as flight GA728 from Denpasar, Bali, and departed at 07:18 as GA727 back to Denpasar.
Airbus A330-300 PK-GPF has also been repainted in SkyTeam livery, but will not visit Perth.
Garuda’s President and CEO Emirsyah Satar, said “For the past 3 years, Garuda Indonesia has been actively forging cooperation with the other 19 member airlines of SkyTeam with this objective in mind and it has been an incredible journey.” He explained that “With Star Alliance, Singapore Airlines and Thai are already in there; if your put in Garuda, covering Indonesia, we don’t really add value. In Oneworld you got Malaysia, you got Qantas and you got Cathay – again, if you put in Garuda there, you really cannot add value or benefit much. When looking at Skyteam, there is only Vietnam Airlines, we can add more to the alliance.”
