(TAN): Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines (SIA) have signed an MoU that builds on their long-standing partnerships. The latest collaboration includes the potential alignment of frequent flyer programmes, joint marketing activities, and initiatives to promote inbound tourism into Indonesia, SIA said in a statement.
Garuda Indonesia and SIA reactivated their air connectivity partnership arrangement between Singapore and Bali, Jakarta, and Surabaya on October 1. Garuda Indonesia commenced flights network connectivity on SIA’s services to London the same day, and will codeshare on SIA’s flights to Mumbai from January 1, 2022, subject to regulatory approval.
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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.
SIA CEO Goh Choon Phong said: “Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia have a strong and long-standing relationship…. 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.”
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Irfan Setiaputra, president and CEO of Garuda Indonesia, 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.”