Garuda Indonesia experienced US$63.2m or around Rp 824b in losses in H2 2016, the company’s senior official said. Garuda Indonesia president director Arif Wibowo said Monday that in the same period of last year, the company booked a net profit of Rp 392.6b ($29.3m). The losses it suffered were triggered by tight competition in domestic flights, which led to a price war. “What we have been facing in our domestic flights is a decline in yield, which reaches almost 10% compared to the previous year,” he said. Arif further explained that although Garuda Indonesia’s passenger revenue per kilometer had increased by 9.8%, accompanied by a 19% increase in Citilink Indonesia’s passenger revenue and a 20% increase in the latter’s passenger capacity, all of these factors could not cover the big losses suffered by the company. Meanwhile, Garuda’s total revenue reached $1.76b in the first semester of 2016, down by 4.1% from $1.84b in the same period of last year. Arif said the ongoing global economic turmoil had also affected the company’s operations. Nevertheless, he said, he was optimistic because the rupiah exchange rate had improved following the issuance of new policies from the government.<br/>