Garuda Indonesia Signs MOU with Singapore Airlines

(29 Nov 2021)  Garuda Indonesia has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Singapore Airlines to explore a wide-ranging commercial partnership.

The scope of the collaboration includes the potential alignment of frequent flyer programmes, joint marketing activities, and initiatives to promote inbound tourism into Indonesia, subject to regulatory approval.

Both partners are also committed to finding new growth opportunities in the air freight segment, as well as cooperation in maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) activities.

Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines aircraft. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

The agreement was inked by Garuda Indonesia President and Chief Executive Officer Irfan Setiaputra and SIA Chief Executive Officer Goh Choon Phong on 26 November 2021 and coincides with the upcoming launch of a quarantine-free Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) between Indonesia and Singapore on 29 November 2021.

Mr Goh Choon Phong, said, “Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia have a strong and long-standing relationship, reflecting the warm and robust bilateral ties between Singapore and Indonesia, as well as the close connections between the people of the two countries. This agreement allows us to leverage on the strengths of both partners to provide our customers with a greater array of choices, as well as an enhanced and more seamless travel journey. It would also enable us to work closely together to support initiatives that facilitate and grow tourism and economic activity as borders reopen.”

Garuda and SIA reactivated their air connectivity partnership arrangement between Singapore and Bali, Jakarta, and Surabaya on 1 October 2021.

Garuda commenced flights network connectivity on SIA’s services to London on the same day, and will codeshare on SIA’s flights to Mumbai from 1 January 2022, subject to regulatory approval.

Additional airline connectivity partnerships to points in both airlines’ networks will be explored to support increased air connectivity to Indonesia and Singapore, as well as the wider Southeast Asia region.

Mr Irfan Setiaputra, said, “I hope that the commercial cooperation between the two airlines will create a more comfortable and safer travel experience for passengers amid the increasing air traffic between countries. Both airlines carry the same mission in this cooperation, which is to support the strengthening of bilateral cooperation between Indonesia and Singapore. We are committed to supporting the acceleration of economic and tourism recovery by participating in ensuring the readiness of air transport infrastructure, particularly in anticipation of the Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) program between Indonesia and Singapore.”