Garuda returns nonstop Jakarta flights to Perth: no more Bali hop

By John Walton, February 6 2013
Garuda returns nonstop Jakarta flights to Perth: no more Bali hop

Garuda Indonesia is bringing daily nonstop flights back to the Perth-Jakarta route, with a handy evening departure from WA and a morning return from Indonesia's capital.

Perth travellers currently have to hop via Denpasar in Bali, so a direct five-hour flight will be a great improvement. The new flights start 28 June.

Flight GA725 will leave Perth at 1740, arriving in Jakarta at 2115. On the way home, flight GA724 will depart Jakarta at 1030 and reach Perth at 1550.

Business class on the Boeing 737-800 will be a recliner similar to Australian domestic business class — comfortable enough for the medium-range flight — with touch-screen on demand entertainment.

Economy passengers will find standard Boeing 737-800 seats, but will also have the on demand entertainment to distract them.

Bagus Y. Siregar, Garuda's VP Australia/South West Pacific, says his airline is targeting business travellers with the new flights.

"We’ve launched this service to respond to the growing demand, particularly from the business community. With the new non-stop flights Jakarta is just under 5 hours away, which makes it very convenient for our corporate travellers," explains Bagus.

WA travellers looking to head to London will want to keep an eye out for whether the service connects to Garuda's newly announced Jakarta-London flights

Keep up to date with the very latest news and information for business travellers: follow @AusBT on Twitter.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

24 Aug 2011

Total posts 782

"Business class on the Boeing 737-800 will be a recliner similar to Australian domestic first class" :) Can someone refresh my memory - I haven't seen domestic first class since 1992 on an Australian/TAA 727.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

10 Apr 2012

Total posts 318

I beleive he means "Domestic Business Class".  In the U.S, they call their Business Class, "First Class". 

03 Jan 2011

Total posts 665

Quite right. This came in just as I was finishing up a piece delving into US domestic first classes in some depth, so fingers were running before brain! Now fixed — thanks!

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

26 Aug 2012

Total posts 9

*correction

Garuda Indonesia is beginning service from 01JUL13 

03 Jan 2011

Total posts 665

Nope, Garuda confirms to me they start 28 June.

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

26 Aug 2012

Total posts 9

Thank you for the update!

undertheradar Banned
undertheradar Banned

28 Oct 2011

Total posts 645

interesting that the recliner business of Garuda 737 (similar to Australian domestic business) is 'comfortable enough' for the 5hr PER-CGK...but is scoffed at by business passengers on a 5hr SYD-PER flight.. i think australian business travelers are a bunch of princesess..we dont realize how good we have it in OZ

03 Jan 2011

Total posts 665

Well, these are day flights, for which a recliner is just fine. On a red-eye, I think travellers are right to seek something more comfortable out.

I won't disagree with you that Australian business travellers have it pretty good, though!

01 Dec 2012

Total posts 59

Great news, but the quoted timings don't seem to be correct. Jakarta is closer to Perth than Sydney is. The gate to gate time should be around 3hrs 45 mins but Jetstar has 4hr 5 mins in its 'relaxed' schedule, and allowing for the one hour time difference, the PER-CGK flight should arrive at about 2045. Could you check?

The Garuda J class recliner is the best seat that I have experienced on a 737-800, with considerably greater legroom than on Australian domestic services and more recline.

03 Jan 2011

Total posts 665

Those are the timings we got from Garuda. I wouldn't be surprised if they block extra time for this flight, given that they're not an LCC, that weather in the region can be a bit bunk and Jakarta can be a bit congested. (I'd hypothesise that this wouldn't be the first flight of the day for this jet either, since it leaves CGK at 1030, so they may be allowing for it to be a bit behind.)


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