GARUDA INDONESIA AWARDED “THE WORLD’S BEST CABIN CREW” FOR THE THIRD CONSECUTIVE YEAR

The national flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has been awarded as “The World’s Best Cabin Crew” for the third consecutive year by Skytrax, a London-based, independent global rating agency. The award was the third time for Garuda since year 2014.

“The World’s Best Cabin Crew 2016” award was presented by CEO of Skytrax Edward Plaisted to President and CEO of Garuda Indonesia M. Arif Wibowo at the “Skytrax World Airline Awards” event in the second day of the Farnborough International Airshow 2016, one of the biggest air show in the world.

The awarding session was witnessed by Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of Indonesia in London – UK, Anita Lidya Luhulima, Deputy of Business Sector Energy, Logistics, Regional and Tourism of Indonesian Ministry of State Owned Enterprises, Edwin Hidayat Abdullah, CEO of Garuda Maintenance Facilities AeroAsia (GMF), Juliandra, and other distinguished guests.

Commenting on the honours, President and CEO of Garuda Indonesia M. Arif Wibowo said that the attainment of the award for third consecutive year is a remarkable milestone for the airline, and Garuda Indonesia proudly presents the achievement for the beloved nation, Indonesia.

“Being awarded "The World’s Best Cabin Staff 2016" is certainly an honour for all of Garuda’s dedicated employees – and in particular our cabin crews, who have committed themselves wholeheartedly to the advancement of Garuda Indonesia and have embraced the challenge together to achieve a level of "Service of Excellence”. I believe that this award will serve as further inspiration for Garuda and its employees to remain committed and even improve further, while it will also mark another milestone as a firm recognition of the sustained development which we have continued to make over the recent years, not only in terms of services, but also throughout all aspects of our company” added Arif.

The award was given to Garuda Indonesia based on a ‘Global Customer Satisfaction Survey’ conducted by Skytrax of more than 18 million passengers. Skytrax is the global benchmark of airline excellence and is acknowledged as running one of the most comprehensive customer satisfaction surveys in the airline industry. Skytrax World Airline Awards are coveted quality accolades for the world airline industry. Travellers from across the globe take part each year in the world’s largest airline passenger satisfaction survey to decide the award winners. The World Airline Awards are a global benchmark of airline excellence, and widely known as the Passengers Choice awards.

CEO Skytrax, Edward Plaisted said "This award for the World's Best Cabin Crew is amongst the most highly sought after title by airlines globally. To have secured this award for three consecutive years is remarkable and unprecedented and the staff and management of Garuda should be enormously proud of this achievement. The Garuda Indonesia cabin crew deliver hospitality and efficiency at the highest level".

Expressing her appreciation for the flag carrier recent achievement, Deputy Chief of Mission Embassy of Indonesia in London – UK, Anita Lidya Luhulima commented “Maintaining the great achievement requires high commitment and hard works. We believe that everyone in Garuda Indonesia must have been bestowing their best to all customers. This achievement surely will bring up the name of our country”.

As Garuda Indonesia carries out its business development program and continuous service enhancements, the airline’s performance is increasingly being recognized at international level. In February 2016, Garuda Indonesia was announced as “Five Star Airline” by Skytrax for the second consecutive year. Perviously, Garuda Indonesia was awarded "The World's Best Regional Airline" at the Farnborough International Airshow 2012 and “The World’s Best Economy Class” by Skytrax during the Paris Aishow 2013. Garuda Indonesia is now also included in the list of “The World’s Top 10 Airlines” by Skytrax.

“In line with our ‘Sky Beyond’ strategy, Garuda Indonesia will continuously focus on our service enhancement programs. Through our distinctive service concept Garuda Indonesia Experience which highlights Indonesia’s warm hospitality and rich diverse culture, and supported by ‘hi-tech’ and ‘hi-touch’-based service, we are confident that Garuda Indonesia will continue to be ranked among the world’s best in the years to come” added Arif.

As a strategic program of fleet revitalization, along this year 2016 Garuda Indonesia Group receives in total of 17 new aircrafts consisting of 1 Boeing 777-300 ER, 4 Airbus A330-300, 4 ATR72-600, and 8 Airbus A320 for Citilink – the LCC subsidiary. By the end of this year, Garuda Indonesia Group will operate in total of 197 aricrafts; 144 aircrafts of Garuda Indonesia and 53 aircrafts of Citilink.

Since 2014, Garuda Indonesia is a member of SkyTeam, the global airline alliance with 20 members, providing access to an extensive global network with over 16.320 daily flights to 1,052 destinations in 177 countries.