Garuda back to Gatwick

[MAN Flyer]

It's finally official, GA back to London in October. Service six times a week, including F - and a Chef!. Interesting they have chosen LGW over LHR, but they did fly to LGW before, and LGW has been pretty aggressive since they were sold off by BAA.

There have been rumours that BA have been considering a LHR-KUL-CGK route.

http://www.travelweekly.co.uk/Articl...o-jakarta.html

[SilverChris]

There have been rumours that BA have been considering a LHR-KUL-CGK route.

Not sure if that's viable. KUL-LHR would make more sense as it would have more connecting passengers (IMO).

[sqdazz]

sounds great to me, be interested to see pricing in F

[MAN Flyer]

Not sure if that's viable. KUL-LHR would make more sense as it would have more connecting passengers (IMO).

You've lost me here. If there is/was a LHR-KUL-CGK service, then obviously there wil be a KUL-LHR service on the way back.

[SilverChris]

You've lost me here. If there is/was a LHR-KUL-CGK service, then obviously there wil be a KUL-LHR service on the way back.

Sorry, I meant to say that LHR-KUL-CGK would be more viable than LGW-KUL-CGK

[UMD]

Sorry, I meant to say that LHR-KUL-CGK would be more viable than LGW-KUL-CGK

But no LGW-KUL-CGK was proposed.

BA is planning LHR - KUL - CGK while GA is coming back with CGK - LGW (non-stop) which will be the only non-stop option between the 2 cities. Given a choice I believe GA would prefer LHR over LGW. But GA just could not get the preferred morning arrival slot at LHR and we all know how expensive those slots are if available. If the focus is on the O/D passengers, then LGW should not be too much of a problem. The challenge is whether there are enough numbers of O/D passengers between the 2 cities. GA could probably sync this route together with its SYD, MEL, PER, and soon to be started BNE flights so it could carry maybe a small numbers of Europe or London bound passengers from Australia but that's yet to be seen as all its Australia flights actually arrive into CGK around mid-afternoon.

GA is trying hard now to lure away premium passengers from SQ, MH, and TG. The new 77Ws which will start to come in June this year and will be used for this route are to have 8 F (EY's OASIS suites) and 38 C (Fully flat staggered (Sogerma Soltys similar to EY, EK, OZ, and TG's 380).

[SilverChris]

Whoops, so sorry - my eyes were deceiving me

Must have got a bit excited after reading "BA" and "KUL" in a sentence.

Now back to the topic....

[SQGamespeed]

If I'm not mistaken is this going to be the first ever nonstop service between Indonesia and Europe? Also, did BA serve CGK in the past?

[Kyo]

If the focus is on the O/D passengers, then LGW should not be too much of a problem.

I blame it on the early morning. What's O/D? Onward departing/departures?

[UMD]

If I'm not mistaken is this going to be the first ever nonstop service between Indonesia and Europe? Also, did BA serve CGK in the past?

Yes, BA did serve JKT several times before. The last service was to CGK up until around the end of 1999 or early 2000 also via KUL which was a designation for the current SZB.

I blame it on the early morning. What's O/D? Onward departing/departures?

Yes, it is the early morning arrival slot at LHR that is impossible to get now unless one of its future SkyTeam partners is willing to let it go to GA if there is any.

Oops...I guess I should have written it as O&D (instead of O/D) which refers to Origin and Destination passengers (traffic) rather than those who are travelling to a 3rd destination.

[sqdazz]

BA used Jakarta as a stopover point on flights to Australia . BA9 i.e. the Jakarta incident (volcanic ash causing flameout of all 4 engines) happened on a flight from Jakarta to Perth (part of London to Auckland via many places). Airline industry was very different back then!

[MLflyer]

Yes, it is the early morning arrival slot at LHR that is impossible to get now unless one of its future SkyTeam partners is willing to let it go to GA if there is any.

LHR slots are too precious to give up, even fellow SkyTeam members won't give them up to each other. Thats why we saw VN and now GA make do with LGW, but apparently VN is somehow going to transfer to LHR in the future, heard it could be very soon too.

Would be good to have at least one of SkyTeam's SE Asian members to fly to LHR.

[UMD]

Garuda has loaded the schedule for its LGW flight to start on Nov. 2, 2013 on its newest 77W. Along with the LGW flights, all flights from CGK to Australian cities will be retimed to morning departures to allow for a convenient connection from and to LGW form those Australian Cities.

To ensure that GA can capture some of the premium passengers ex-SYD, GA will also operate its CGK- SYD flights on its newest 77W. Here is the link to GA's 77W with 8 F suites, 38 Business Class, and 268 Y seats...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC3sv...ature=youtu.be

I think GA is doing a good job on its newest 77W. Love the interior and the color scheme as well.

[scooby5]

Here is the link to GA's 77W with 8 F suites, 38 Business Class, and 268 Y seats...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC3sv...ature=youtu.be

Love the way the guy says 'Comfort'.....

BA is planning LHR - KUL - CGK

Is this still a goer now that MAS will be in OW? I would have thought that BA just have to connect to a MAS flight out of KUL?

[milehighj]

1G looks to be the best seat