Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia filled more seats on its domestic flights during the Lebaran exodus this year, as more people chose air travel to return to their hometown for Idul Fitri.
The state-controlled airline’s average load factor — which indicates how much an airline makes use of its seat capacity — went up to 74 percent from June 24 to July 5, a day before Idul Fitri, on all of its domestic routes, Benny S. Butarbutar, Garuda Indonesia’s vice president of corporate communication, said on Saturday (09/07).
Benny did not give a figure for last year’s Idul Fitri holiday.
Still, the latest figure could mark a turnaround for Garuda. The full-service airline had seen its load factor dip to 69 percent in the first three months of this year, compared to 74 percent in the same period last year, as weak economic growth forced cost-conscious travelers to opt out of the airline’s services.
Garuda added 32,000 more seats on 132 extra flights, 112 of which are on international routes, between June 24 to July 17 to cater for Indonesians during the annual Lebaran exodus, Benny said.
“This represents a 35 percent increase in our extra capacity from the same period last year,” Benny said.
The National Police estimated 17.6 million people made the travel back to their hometown during the Lebaran exodus this year. Ouf of that figure, 4.6 million chose air travel, up 7.6 percent from a year ago as people’s purchasing power has increased and local airlines offer new fleets and routes.
Air travelers met with relatively few problems during this year’s Lebaran exodus compared to their peers taking land routes, who were met by hellish traffic jams on toll roads across Java.