Garuda Indonesia has ordered 10 Boeing 777-300ERs and plans to use these long-range aircraft for services to the USA and Europe.
Today at the Singapore Airshow the airline’s CEO, Emirsyah Satar, signed a firm order for 10 777-300ERs and says first deliveries are set for mid-2010.
“We hope that this will be part of our expansion…and will be used to open new routes,” says Satar.
“We’re going to expand to the USA and Europe and” phase out Boeing 747-400s.
The carrier was earlier looking to get 777-200ERs but Satar says it decided on -300ERs instead because the airline wants the extra capacity and the -300ER can operate non-stop from Jakarta to Amsterdam and London, two destinations it plans to serve as part of an expansion.
Boeing says in a statement that the order for 777-300ERs is from an earlier deferred deal for six 777-200ERs, which has now been converted to one for six 777-300ERs. It also includes a new order for an additional four 777-300ERs.
Garuda ordered the six -200ERs in the mid-1990s but postponed delivery indefinitely after falling into severe financial difficulty following the 1997 Asian economic crisis.
For more news, images and video, see Singapore Airshow 2008 ...
Source: FlightGlobal.com
