Garuda Indonesia issues 2024 Hajj ACMI tender

Garuda Indonesia is seeking to wet-lease widebody aircraft for the 2024 Hajj season. The airline issued a procurement notice on October 11, 2023, inviting eligible parties to bid for the business. Procurement notice number EPROC-IBS/2023/10/SO/0293 seeks either B777, A330, or B747 aircraft on an ACMI/damp-lease basis (with cabin crew provided by Garuda Indonesia) between May 13 and July 21, 2024. The aircraft will fly roundtrip between Indonesia and Madinah and Jeddah. The notice states a preference for planes manufactured not before 2001 and the range to complete with sectors without any technical stops. Indonesia is home to an estimated 231m Muslims, or around 87% of the country's population, making it the world's biggest Muslim nation. During the Hajj pilgrimage season, multiple airlines, including majority state-owned Garuda Indonesia, do a brisk business flying pilgrims between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Ahead of the 2023 season, ch-aviation reported that Garuda would dedicate 14 aircraft to Hajj flights, including seven of their own and seven wet-leased planes. For the 2024 charters, Garuda specifies that potential participants must be the aircraft's owner and/or operator and hold an air operator's certificate. "Participants shall act on behalf of itself and shall not act as a broker or intermediary of any other party. Participants shall not involve any other intermediary in participating in this leasing tender," the notice stipulates.<br/>