Garuda Indonesia has suffered another setback in its bid to launch Jakarta-London flights after failing to obtain peak period landing slots at London Gatwick.
The airline has abandoned plans for the time being for a Jakarta-London Boeing 777-300ER service in favour of non-stop flights from Jakarta to Amsterdam, which later this year will continue to London.
The new routing will see Garuda abandon its current stopover in Abu Dhabi as of May 30.
Passengers not staying in Amsterdam will transfer onto flights of SkyTeam partner KLM to the UK and Europe.
However, as of September 8, Garuda’s Boeing 777-300ER will continue on to London’s Gatwick airport.
President and CEO of Garuda Indonesia, Emirsyah Satar, said that following Garuda’s official joining of the SkyTeam, "the opportunities presented by the established SkyTeam hub at Amsterdam are too significant to pass up".
A spokesman for Garuda Indonesia in Australia said: ""We will do our utmost to assist passengers inconvenienced by the changes. We will be working with the industry and passengers to accommodate those who are affected."
