Revenue Flights To Begin Tuesday

Indonesia's national airline Garuda Indonesia today officially celebrated the first take-off of its very first ATR 72-600. The aircraft took to the sky from Denpasar (Bali) at 0800 am (local time) in the presence of the management teams of the airline and ATR. Throughout this inaugural day the aircraft landed at the airports of Labuan Bajo (East Nusa Tenggara province) and Bima (West Nusa Tenggara province), where it has been welcomed and visited by local authorities and media. Today's celebration follows the announcement earlier this year of the introduction of 25 firm ATR 72-600s, plus 10 options, into the fleet of the airline, in a joint agreement between the airline, ATR and the Danish leasing firm Nordic Aviation Capital. The airline's regular scheduled operations with these new ATRs will start on December 3rd, with flights scheduled from Bali to Labuan Bajo and Ende, and from Bali to Bima and Mataram.

The ATR 72-600, burns up to 50% less fuel than other equivalent-sized regional aircraft and which has operating costs well below those of its competitors, the company says. ATR has received orders for more than 170 ATR 72s, -mostly '-600s'- from ASEAN carriers since 2005. This represents almost all the sales for regional aircraft below 90-seats in the region during this period.

In order to optimize the operation of this new fleet of 25 ATR 72-600s, Garuda Indonesia and ATR have recently signed a Global Maintenance Agreement (GMA) extending over ten years and covering the 25 aircraft fleet. Based on this agreement, ATR will handle –from its Customer Support Center in Singapore-, the management of the maintenance activities of Garuda Indonesia's ATR fleet, while ensuring the availability of key spare parts, such as propellers and fuel nozzles.
 
“Today's flight is a major milestone in our policy of expanding regional connectivity across our country," said Emirsyah Satar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Garuda Indonesia. "The introduction of our new modern regional ATR turboprop aircraft represents a big step beyond of our 'Quantum Leap 2011-2015' transformation and expansion program, which aims to specially strengthen our domestic service”. He added: “This ATR 72-600 with “Explore” brand will increase the connectivity between new tourism and new economic growth destinations in remote areas as well as to explore the richness and diversity of Indonesia."

(Image provided by ATR Aircraft)

FMI: www.atraircraft.com