Garuda bets on travel recovery with Indonesia easing virus curbs

Indonesia’s flag carrier is betting on further easing of social distancing rules to spark a revival in travel for work and leisure after the coronavirus pandemic pushed the airline to seek a debt restructuring and government aid to stay afloat. Garuda Indonesia’s passenger traffic has risen to 16% of its capacity after the government lifted a temporary ban on non-essential travel last month, President Director Irfan Setiaputra said. Travel demand may further improve if authorities open up popular tourist destinations like Bali, he said. “There have been continuous improvement in consensus among analysts on when the industry will fully recover,” Setiaputra said. “In May, they were saying it will happen in 2023 but as of last week it has been moved forward to 2022. If the industry can fully recover only in 2022, then Garuda will not be able to make it.” Garuda reported a net loss of $120m in the first quarter and was forced to restructure $500m of debt last month to survive the hit from the pandemic that’s hurt airlines worldwide. The carrier has cut employee salaries and renegotiated aircraft lease agreements to survive the travel slump and secured a credit line from the government. Garuda reported a net loss of $120m in Q1 and was forced to restructure $500m of debt last month to survive the hit from the pandemic that’s hurt airlines worldwide. <br/>