Garuda Indonesia Certified 5-Star Airline
By Peter Miller, Skytrax
Garuda Indonesia has been Certified as a 5-Star Airline by Skytrax, the international air transport rating organisation.
At an Award Ceremony in Jakarta, Skytrax presented the 5-Star Airline rating Certification to Garuda Indonesia, the latest entrant to this group of 5-Star Airlines.
Commenting on this 5-Star Airline rating, Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax said: “This is recognition of the major turnaround in quality standards at Garuda Indonesia, reflecting the hard work by the airline in recent years, and we delighted to confirm that they are now meeting the 5-Star Airline. This rating is based on an all-round assessment of the product and service, on-board and at the airport. We place a lot of importance on the fact that the majority of customers travel in Economy and it is the quality and consistency of those standards that contribute greatly to Garuda Indonesia securing 5-Stars. Consistency of an airline’s product and service is a major part of the 5-Star rating, with Garuda’s long haul fleet now offering Business Class flat-bed seating and 32-34 inch seat pitch in Economy Class. Customers can also experience the new First and Business Class 5-Star service concept rolled out across the Boeing 777-300ER fleet.”
“It is important to underline that every level of Star Rating is focused on all customer and travel types. For example, simply having a luxurious First class cabin is not the solution to achieving 5-Star Airline status. As most of the world’s air travellers sit in Economy class, we place great emphasis on the ‘typical’ experience they will have. We liken this to the fact that an hotel may have the most prestigious Royal or Presidential Suite, but if it’s standard rooms are of a poor quality or the staff service is poor, it will not gain 5-Star classification.”
Garuda Indonesia’s President and CEO, Mr Arif Wibowo, speaking at the ceremony: “We are proud to present this award to the people of Indonesia. We shall remain committed to improve even better and hold our 5-star airline title, and of course to always provide service of the highest quality to all Garuda Indonesia customers. We are truly honoured to receive this prestigious award, so at this opportune moment, on behalf of Garuda Indonesia, I would like to thank all of Garuda Indonesia’s stakeholders, including all of our valued customers. Nevertheless, being recognized as a 5-Star Airline has ignited us even further and inspired us to challenge ourselves to improve even further and provide the best possible services for our passengers, consistently and continuously. Garuda’s success in becoming a 5-star airline is the result of continued dedication, commitment and hard work from all Garuda Indonesia employees to deliver the best possible service to its customers. We also gratefully acknowledge the support provided by our customers which led to Garuda Indonesia being awarded this prestigious 5-star airline award.”
Attending the ceremony was Indonesia’s Minister of Transportation, Mr Ignasius Jonan, who stated:
“This is indeed something exceptional. I believe that Garuda’s gift to the Indonesian people is the fruit of hard work, determination and consistent performance of the management and all Garuda Indonesia employees, to deliver the highest standard of service to their customers, and which eventually resulted in Garuda’s success in becoming a 5-star airline.”
The Garuda Indonesia 5-Star Airline rating takes account of planned airport and service changes in 2015, when Garuda will transfer to the new Terminal 3 at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, it’s home base hub. This will provide a new home for Garuda Indonesia and SkyTeam airlines, improving the travel experience through enhanced transfers and airport service, together with improved and expanded premium passenger facilities.
Garuda Indonesia has one of the youngest fleets in Asia with an average aircraft age of just 4.02 years (December 2014), consisting of 130 aircraft, and due to grow to 145 aircraft in 2015.
» Visit Garuda Indonesia website
About Skytrax Airline Rating
World Airline Rating is the global airline quality ranking programme operated by Skytrax, the international air transport rating organisation and a leading authority on airline quality standards. Certified Airline Ratings classify airlines by the quality of front-line product and staff service they provide to customers, and are recognised as a global benchmark of airline standards. Established in 1989, Skytrax is based in London, United Kingdom.
Using an internationally recognised evaluation system to assess quality, Skytrax provide the world airline industry with a professional, unified Quality classification system that is an established and respected symbol of airline standards.
Certified Airline Rating is based on in-depth quality analysis of an airline’s customer-facing Product and Service standards, with a well-established approach providing accuracy, and an objective ranking system using global quality measurements.
As part of the process to determine and award an Airline Star Rating, Skytrax carry out detailed Quality analysis across up to 800 different areas of airline product and service delivery for the on-board and home-base Airport environments. Certified Airline Ratings are not related to any type of customer reviews or passenger surveys.
