It seems the friendliness between Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines has expanded, with them receiving regulatory approval to commence their Commercial Joint Venture.
With this approval, the airlines will be able to deepen their strategic partnership on a wider range of commercial activities that will bring greater benefits to both airlines, as well as Indonesia and Singapore.
These potentially include operating joint revenue-sharing flights between the two countries, coordinating flight schedules to offer travellers more options and seamless connectivity between Singapore and Indonesia and beyond, and exploring joint sales and marketing initiatives that provide greater value to both airlines’ customers.
Since Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines signed an agreement to deepen their partnership in May 2023, the carriers have been working on initiatives including giving GarudaMiles and KrisFlyer members the option to earn and redeem miles on codeshare routes.
The airlines today codeshare on a wide range of flights, including between Singapore and the Indonesian cities of Bali, Jakarta, Medan, and Surabaya, as well as on long-haul routes between Singapore and Johannesburg, London (Heathrow), and Mumbai.
In Quotes
Mr Irfan Setiaputra, President and Chief Executive Officer of Garuda Indonesia, said:
“We are very pleased to receive this approval, as it marks significant progress towards our commitment to enhance service quality as well as broaden both Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines’ networks through a deepening partnership. The joint venture initiative that we are preparing today has been one of the strategies to ensure extensive value creation for our loyal customers. Having regulatory approval as the first step in a commercial agreement will provide more opportunity for developing well-executed strategic ideas.
“Moreover, we hope that this joint venture agreement can provide seamless services for passengers with more flight schedule options and ease in earning and redeeming mileage. Also, this collaboration may deliver concrete action to contribute to boosting Indonesian tourism activities, which will support the post-pandemic economic recovery progress,” Mr Irfan explained.
Mr Goh Choon Phong, Chief Executive Officer of Singapore Airlines, said:
“The robust strategic partnership between Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines has enabled us to broaden our codeshare services over the last few years, offering our customers more choices on flights. With the CCCS’s approval, we are poised to deepen our collaboration across a wider scope of commercial activities. 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. This partnership underscores both airlines’ commitment to improving connectivity between Indonesia and Singapore and beyond, boosting both business and leisure travel, and contributing to economic growth.”
Growing together
Whilst alliances are useful things, Joint Ventures have shown to be a much better thing for airlines economically, as they can tighten scheduling and pool resources into mutually profitable routes – or hive off markets as needed.
With Singapore Airlines and Garuda Indonesia having the green light to expand their activities, it’ll be interesting to see how deeply they proceed with their Joint Venture – and how deep the rabbit hole will go.
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