Capital A, the company that owns AirAsia (AK, Kuala Lumpur International), has entered into a "strategic partnership" with Garuda Indonesia Group, the organisation that owns Citilink and Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta), in an effort to strengthen collaboration across various business lines.
The contract was signed on September 27 in Jakarta by Irfan Setiaputra, president and CEO of Garuda Indonesia, and Tony Fernandes, CEO of Capital A. For instance, it envisions collaboration between the MRO and logistical divisions of both airline corporations. The important part, however, is an interlining MOU between AirAsia and Citilink, the first of its kind ever inked by Capital A aviation wing AirAsia Aviation Group, which will give customers easier access to third- and fourth-tier cities throughout the ten-member ASEAN region.
According to a Capital A release, the cooperation "would capitalise on the depth of close to 50 domestic destinations in Indonesia served by Citilink with the breadth of AirAsia's 150 international ASEAN destinations." With checked-through luggage service and boarding tickets issued from the point of origin, the initial deployment of a few routes by Q1 2024 will offer a seamless transfer experience for both inbound and outbound travellers.
The air logistics networks of the two companies will be combined through a new cooperation between Capital A's logistics company Teleport and Garuda Indonesia Cargo. Customers will be able to ship goods between Teleport's 160 airports and Garuda Cargo's 90 airports using a single airway bill.
In high-demand sectors, like Singapore Changi, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong International bound flights, Teleport will take advantage of Garuda's strong domestic connectivity and enhanced skidded capacity, according to the release. Garuda will take use of Teleport's robust network connectivity in Southeast Asia and Greater China with expanded access into significant Asia Pacific locations like Taipei Taoyuan, Sydney Kingsford Smith, Auckland International, and Delhi International, among others.
Last but not least, the partnership takes into account ongoing discussions between the two MRO subsidiaries, Asia Digital Engineering (ADE) and Garuda Indonesia's GMF AeroAsia, "to further explore opportunities for another strategic partnership that will leverage on mutual strengths and efficiencies as well as ASEAN's strategic location to deliver greater [...] MRO services to third-party airlines seeking maintenance support."
-By Emilia Wood|thetransporteronline24|UK
