Garuda Indonesia has begun operating direct flights from Jakarta to South Korea's capit al Seoul and the Australian cities of Sydney and Melbourne.

The Indonesian flag carrier says that flights to these cities, which began over the weekend, were previously available only through its four-times weekly services Denpasar, Bali.

All three new services will be thrice-weekly and Garuda plans to operate Airbus A330-200 aircraft on them. This is part of its plan to develop its network over the coming years, adds the airline.

"The flights are also part of the effort to make Jakarta a more convenient hub," says Garuda. "Business travellers will be able to more easily to fly to domestic destinations and regional markets in Asia and in the Middle East via Jakarta, and vice versa."

The carrier has begun a slew of services over the last few months, and plans to increase its Indonesian and international network gradually. To this end, Garuda ordered 50 Boeing 737-800NGs that began to arrive in stages from July and 10 Boeing 777-300ERs that will begin to arrive in 2011. This year, it will also take delivery of four new A330-200s.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news