Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines received approval from the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore for their commercial joint venture agreement.
This approval, granted last Friday, marks a significant milestone in their strategic partnership, aimed at enhancing commercial activities and delivering greater benefits to both airlines and the countries they serve.
Enhanced commercial activities and customer benefits
The partnership enables the airlines to operate joint revenue-sharing flights between Indonesia and Singapore, coordinate flight schedules for increased travel options, and explore joint sales and marketing initiatives.
“With the CCCS’s approval, we are poised to deepen our collaboration across a wider scope of commercial activities,” said SIA Chief Executive Goh Choon Phong said.
“Along with the ongoing work to strengthen the links between our frequent flyer membership programmes, this will provide our customers with even more options and enhanced value.”
Increasing passenger capacity and route expansion
SIA and Garuda Indonesia announced last year May their plan to enter into a joint venture to increase passenger capacity between Indonesia and Singapore.
Garuda Indonesia and SIA have 10 overlapping origin-destination routes for air passenger transport services between Singapore and Indonesia, encompassing both direct and connecting flights.
Codesharing and loyalty programs
Since signing their agreement last year, Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines have focused on several initiatives, including allowing GarudaMiles and KrisFlyer members to earn and redeem miles on codeshare routes.
Codesharing is a cooperative arrangement where two or more airlines share the same flight, allowing them to offer more destinations and services by using each other’s aircraft.
They have also launched joint marketing efforts to promote tourism.
Currently, the airlines offer codeshare flights between Singapore and key Indonesian cities such as Bali, Jakarta, Medan, and Surabaya, as well as long-haul routes to Johannesburg, London (Heathrow), and Mumbai.
Conversely, SIA codeshares on Garuda Indonesia flights between Singapore and Bali, Jakarta, and Surabaya.
Strategic initiatives and future plans
“Having regulatory approval as the first step in a commercial agreement will provide more opportunity for developing well-executed strategic ideas,” Garuda Indonesia President & CEO Irfan Setiaputra said.
