President Jokowi Announces Garuda Indonesia`s Direct Flight to Mumbai

New Delhi (Antara Bali)- National carrier Garuda Indonesia will operate a direct flight from Jakarta to Mumbai, India, President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has announced.

The announcement was made during a joint press conference by President Jokowi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Hyderabad House here on Monday.

"I am pleased to announce that Garuda Indonesia, beginning today, will fly directly to Mumbai from Jakarta," he said.

The direct flight connecting the two metropolitan cities will help strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries, and support economic cooperation as well as people-to-people contact, the president said.

Garudas maiden Jakarta-Mumbai flight on Monday was a Boeing 737-800 NG with a seating capacity of 156, comprising 12 business class seats and 144 economic class seats.

The direct flight service is aimed at supporting the Indonesian governments objective of attracting more Indian tourists to Indonesia and strengthening the cultural and historical relations between the two nations.

Around 270 thousand Indian tourists visited Indonesia last year, and 350 thousand this year, President Director of Garuda Indonesia M Arif Wibowo said in a statement.

"As the number of Indian tourists continues to increase annually, we are sure that Mumbai is a prospective market for us," Wibowo stated.

Indian tourists now have better access to fly to Indonesian tourist destinations such as Bali, Yogyakarta, Surabaya (East Java), and Medan (North Sumatra), from Jakarta, he remarked.

Garuda Indonesias Jakarta-Mumbai flight GA 862 via Bangkok will operate thrice a week. It will depart Jakarta at 5:55 am local time and arrive in Bangkok at 9:25 am local time. It will depart Bangkok at 10:20 am local time and land in Mumbai at 3 pm local time.

The Mumbai-Jakarta flight GA 861 will also fly three times a week. It will depart from Mumbai at 5:35 pm local time, and arrive in Bangkok at 9:55 pm local time. It will depart Bangkok at 11:35 pm local time and arrive in Jakarta at 3:05 am local time.

Garuda operates direct flights from Jakarta to various Asian countries such as Singapore, Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Thailand (Bangkok), China (Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai), South Korea (Seoul), Japan (Tokyo, Osaka) and Saudi Arabia (Jidda and Madinah).(WDY)