Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) -- PT Garuda Indonesia's low-cost unit Citilink aims to boost passenger numbers 50 percent next year as it starts overseas flights and adds Airbus SAS planes.
The budget airline may fly 3 million passengers in 2012, Con Korfiatis, an adviser to its board of directors, said in a Sept. 19 interview in Jakarta. The carrier intends to start flights to Singapore, Malaysia and Australia next year.
Citilink also last week started flying its first Airbus A320 as it begins replacing and expanding its once all-Boeing Co. fleet. The carrier's passenger numbers rose 60 percent to 731,000 in the first half, helped by Indonesia's economic growth that has been double the pace of global expansion since 2008.
“The strategy now is to grow Citilink, and to grow Citilink aggressively,” Korfiatis said. The budget carrier ‘is very important'' to Garuda, he said.
Garuda rose 1 percent to 495 rupiah at close of Jakarta trading yesterday. The shares have dropped 20 percent since they were listed on the stock exchange in February.
Garuda ordered 25 A320 aircraft from the Toulouse, France- based planemaker in June to support the unit's expansion. The order, worth $2.2 billion at list prices, included 10 of the revamped A320neo and options for another 25 aircraft.
Citilink plans to add three more Airbus planes to its fleet this year, all on leases, Korfiatis said. The carrier aims to have 20 aircraft in its fleet by the end of next year.
The airline deployed the A320 on commercial flights from Sept. 16. Prior to this, it had five Boeing 737 planes. The carrier flies to eight domestic cities including Denpasar, Medan and Surabaya.
Citilink is expected to account for 30 percent of Garuda's revenue in 2015, Garuda Chief Financial officer Elisa Lumbantoruan said Aug. 3. The carrier plans to restructure the airline's operations into a separate fully-owned unit next year to help differentiate it from Garuda's full-service operations, President Director Emirsyah Satar said the same day.
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