Garuda Indonesia Orders Rare A330-800neo

I would be extremely interested in flying nonstop from us to Bali! I assume no F on this plane? Any idea what J seat will look like?

@Kevin probably the same as on their A330-900neo, for simplicity purposes. Staggered 1-2-1 flatbed with uninterrupted aisle access for all seats, but no doors.

I don’t know how viable a nonstop between U.S. and Bali would be. They’ve long planned to deploy their 777s to Paris and Frankfurt, too, but those have never materialised.

I worry that a Bali to US flight is one of those "prestige" flights some carriers like to do, but ultimately doesn't make sense.

Given the current situation its highly unlikely Garuda will fly to US or add new route

Southeast Asian carriers have never done well in the U.S. with PR and SQ being the exception.

The reason and PR and SQ work is because of the huge Filipino diaspora in the country as well as being only within 90 mins away from HKG and and TPE so it's well within range of most long-haul aircraft and the other for premium traffic respectively.

Even Thai didn't work, so I'm not convinced Garuda will be any different.

What I think will work would be from Russia where tourists are flocking south to escape the cold during the winter months.

A LHR-DPS (or LGW) would work extremely well. Yes, yes I know they screwed with the route for 4 years but a direct DPS London return would do very well. If connections could be timed for Australia and SE Asia connections then it would make for some interesting options, especially with the ever growing demand for dual centre holidays

I could see DPS or CGK to SEA with Delta feed to the rest of the country, but the majority of Indonesians in the US live in LA which is basically at the exact edge of their range (7502NM) so it would just be moving the transfer point for the majority of travelers. I see these more for European ops.

Have you given thought that as these aircraft haven’t been that popular and very few sales that Garuda got them at very “reasonable” prices and that’s that.

It was reported in Indonesian media last year that the Indonesian government was willing to subsidize up to $500 per passenger, meaning Garuda Indonesia would be able to reduce fare price. The Indonesian government wants to bring in a lot more American tourists to Bali and other parts of Indonesia.

It may well not be bad for business because most tourists would individually spend more than $500 during stay in Indonesia.

Where are you getting the 7506-mile range figure? Wikipedia and Airbus' website both state a range of 8150 nautical miles, or nearly 9400 statute miles. Frankly, I'm surprised the A330-800 isn't more popular given that that's significantly more than the 787-9 (7530 nmi) and even slightly more than the A350-900 (8100 nmi) at what I would assume is a cheaper purchase price.

LAX would be marginal

But judging from your map, SEA or YVR seems possible and viable

What's an airplane production line like? With only 15 airplanes of that type sold, wouldn't diverting manufacturing resources to other better selling aircraft be better wrt minimizing company expenses?

@airlineinsider91 that is an excellent point. As a youngster (20y ago) Garuda was an Aussie uni student’s cheapest option to Europe. Most high end travellers in Oz are QF FFs and will forever be beholden to the ‘roo (particularly if flying QF codeshare on Emirates metal!) but Garuda may get a big holiday/backpacker market when borders ease if the connections through DPS are good.

@Florian, exactly my point!! When CI (China Airlines) restarted direct LGW-TPE flights with onward connections to Auz and NZ they gained market share due to there lower price points and well regarded service compared to the mainland Chinese carriers. If GA can follow suit and offer FOC stopovers in DPS i.e no increase of fare for a stopover and offer economy fares in the £500ish range/ £430ish sale range they would do extremely well!

Interestingly Indonesia is the only major Southeast Asian country to have zero A350s and 787s, because Garuda and Lion love the A330neo so much.

I dont think if garuda can sustain the U. S. flight. If they do it its just a financial disaster waiting to happen. Most southeast asian airlines avoided U. S. flight with exception to singapore airlines(business travellers) and philippine airlines(more than 6 millions filipino diaspora in U. S.)

US vacationers’ interest to visit Bali is high but the hassle of spending over 24 hours travel time with connection usually gets in the way.
A direct flight between Bali and major West Coast city/cities will cut down the travel time and making the route very attractive.
Garuda partners with Delta, so it will be and easy connection to fly Delta from anywhere in US to the hub city and hop on that GA nonstop flight to Bali without having to fly through ICN, NRT, HKG, TPE or SIN and shave off significant travel time.
There is also an Indonesian diaspora in West Coast especially around LAX and SFO that will be enough to keep the route going if they have 1-2 weekly flights.
I visited Indonesia a few months back and flew GA domestic, and with the great service they give on board I can’t wait to have them as an option for US to Bali route.

I think A330-800 is definitely suitable for Garuda due to better range performance, right sized capacity and operational capability which can be used both for long haul and short haul (domestic).

Majority of Indonesian secondary airports these days might have sufficient length to accept widebody aircraft such as the A330 families, but the limitation or challenges were in the ARFF (Rescue Firefighting) category which are mainly in the region of category 7 and 8.

Given the differences on ARFF Category (8 for A330-200/800 and 9 for A330-300/900) therefore, this aircraft should help the airline to develop its seats capacity, or else making their domestic flight schedules more effective and efficient by deploying widebody aircraft for busy domestic and regional routes and particularly during peak hours.

The Indonesian government now has officially established a tourism holding that aims to strengthen tourism and aviation sectors through collaboration in the long term.

It has identified the needs to overcome the existing issues, such as unbalanced traffic, non optimal international connectivity, as currently the domestic and international traffic are only centralised in CGK, DPS and SUB, and the fact that there were more than 23 million overflying passengers from Europe, North Asia to Australia in 2019 of which majority transiting in Singapore and Hong Kong ; with the recent airport development happening in Central and East Indonesia, this could be one potential that can be further developed in the future.

One of its long term aspirations is to develop connectivity beyond Jakarta and Bali, and following the massive airport development and expansion projects in Central and East Indonesia; the long term aspiration is making other potential secondary airports which are currently known to be underserved such as: Yogyakarta (YIA) as a new alternative for International transit hub. With the new YIA airport and larger capacity will help to promote this second most popular destination after Bali in Indonesia.

In addition, Indonesia should consider maximising its hub and spoke strategy for domestic (especially for non busy routes), which I think is also still relevant for Indonesia given that the country's geographical condition much likely unique and different than other countries; As a maritime country with 17,000 islands and that aviation is highly relied on by its people (not
land or sea transport) and reiterating the ultimate needs for secondary cities to be served with air connectivity for tourism, trade and logistics distribution.

Agree with the previous comment, that the US flights will be workable for Garuda, given the number of Indonesian diasporas in the West Coast, such as LAX and SFO. Let's accepting the fact that Indonesian diasporas are not as wide spread as others, compare to Vietnam, China or even the Philippines. Therefore, GA must focus on identifying this potential which currently reaped by its competitors.

I believe that VFR traffic will be the main driver of international flight passengers. Garuda must capture this opportunity. 1 or 2x weekly and the OD schedule should be equal between CGK and DPS.

I think with one technical stop either in DPS or HNL (should a technical stop is still required) is still OK, like when they did in 1990s with MD-11ER (and they were granted with transit rights or co-terminalisation rights, if I am not mistaken). Thus, for US flights I think no need for the airline to ask for fifth freedom rights from a third country airport, my prediction is that post COVID-19 it'll be more convenient for the airline to form bilateral agreements between 2 countries only.

With only 4 on order, if indeed used on ultra long haul, the options will be limited. LHR-DPS is 16 h or a 36 hour rotation including 2 h turnaround at both ends.

Considering provision for 1 unavailable plane (maintenance etc.), that leaves room for max ~14 ULR rotations per week. That's 2 flights per day. If the airline wants to offer some flexibility, they will serve each market at least 2x per week. So they can open max 7 markets.

LAX, SFO with Delta make sense to absorb the US leisure and diaspora businesses, and for the european destinations, the best is to compete with the other alliances and offer competitive OD flights from big population centers that can fill up the plane like LHR/GTW, FRA/MUC while leveraging a Skyteam partnership through France or Netherlands for the other markets.

Add to that a constraint to serve both DPS and CGK, which gives flexibility to adjust to demand seasonality and the capacity is pretty much used up.

I think Garuda will fly to Los Angeles and San Francisco, considering there are many Indonesian diasporas, maybe 3x per week will be effective

please garuda improve ife system to make it responsive