REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CHONGQIAN -- Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia will launch chartered flights from 10 Chinese cities to Bali, Indonesia, during the Chinese New Year holidays, a Garuda executive said.
"The unscheduled flight services will run from January 29 to March 29," I Wayan Subagia, Garuda's deputy president for China, said on Saturday.
The Chinese cities from which these flight services will commence are Harbin, Xi'an, Shenyang, Chengzhou, Tiayuan, Chengdu, Chongqing, Ningbo, Wuhan and Nanjing.
"On average, the passenger seat occupancy rate has reached 100 percent," Subagia said.
He said that a target of 27 thousand passengers had been set for the chartered flights. The unscheduled flights will also serve as an exploration for opening new routes for regular flights from China to Indonesia.
For over a decade, Garuda has served the Beijing-Jakarta, Shanghai-Jakarta, Guangzhou-Jakarta and Beijing-Denpasar routes.
"It is possible that one of the unscheduled flight routes spells good prospects and that we can narrow down to a regular flight route," he said.
He added that Garuda has explored the unscheduled flights for a long time because of continued demand from the Chinese market.
"But at the time, we did not have a large enough fleet and crew members. We have now been able to commence this service since January this year. The destination is still focused on Bali because 80 percent of Chinese travelers prefer Bali as one of their destinations for a holiday," he pointed out.
Garuda Indonesia has set a target to fly some 50 thousand Chinese tourists during the holiday season of Chinese New Year (Imlek) 2015 through regular and charter flights.
Subagia told Antara on Friday that the passenger seat occupancy rate for Garuda Indonesia's China-Indonesia routes has reached 87 percent.
For regular flights, Garuda Indonesia has set a target to fly 16,799 Chinese tourists to Indonesia during Imlek 2015.
"From January 29 till February 13, charter flights will carry around 5,323 people, with an average seat occupancy rate of 100 percent," Subagia stated.
"The schedule for the charter flights for Imlek is from January 29 to March 29," he added.
The Chinese Civil Aviation Administration has forecast that some 29 million Chinese will opt for air travel during Imlek 2015, reflecting an increase of around 12.5 percent from last year.
The Chinese will celebrate New Year 2015 on February 19. The Chinese government has announced a week-long holiday for the New Year celebrations.
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