It seems that Indonesian national carrier Garuda is planning a big comeback. According to Bali Discovery, the airline is awaiting delivery of 10 Boeing 777-200 ER aircraft, which will enable it to fly to North America. The airline went through a rough patch several years ago, cultivating in being banned from flying in European airspace, as part of a blanket ban on all Indonesian airlines. It probably didn’t deserve to be lumped in with the likes of Adam Air, but it did take the action as a wake-up call to get its maintenance processes certified by an international agency and update its fleet.
I’ve been flying Garuda domestic flights several times a year for the past five years, and I have to say they aren’t all that bad. They have a long way to go to rival the likes of Singapore Airlines, but I’ve been on domestic full-fare flights in the US that were worse.
Be that as it may, I somehow doubt “It’s not as bad as you think” is going to be their new slogan for the US market.
I just got a notice from Bangkok Airways that, effective 16 January 2010, the credit card holder who books a flight will need to be one of the travelers on the flight, and will need to present the credit card on check-in. All passengers will be asked to show some form of ID – credit card, national ID or passport.
Really, I had to think about whether or not this was really newsworthy. But, well, just in case you’ve been under a rock, OAG has announced the winners of their annual airline industry awards, and once again, Singapore Airlines leads the pack as the world’s best airline. Obviously, SIA also took the prize as "Best in Asia" as well as the "Best Europe to Asia/Australasia Airline", "Best Transpacific Airline" and "Best International First Class".
Malaysian Airlines and Thai Airways were finalists in the "Best Airline based in Asia" category.
The best airport in the world is still Changi. Kuala Lumpur International Airport also made it into the list of finalists.
"Widely regarded as the industry’s pre-eminent event, the [Airline Industry] Awards recognize the most highly respected and innovative airlines and airports, based on the votes of consumers who use them the most: frequent fliers from around the globe."
