Jakarta : In line with the successful of its continuous service improvement and on-going business transformation through the “Quantum Leap 2011-2015” program, Garuda Indonesia was again awarded by an international institution. After winning the title “The World’s Best Regional Airline” last year, Garuda Indonesia was named “The World’s Best Economy Class” by Skytrax – London, on Tuesday, June 18.

In addition to being voted “The World’s Best Economy Class”, Garuda was also named “The World’s Best Economy Class Seats” and ranked the eighth place in “The World’s Top 10 Airlines” by Skytrax. The awards presentation took place during the biggest air show in the world, the Paris Air Show 2013. The awards were presented by CEO of Skytrax Edward Plaisted and CNN’s foremost international business correspondent and presenter Richard Quest to President and CEO of Garuda Indonesia Emirsyah Satar in the Hall de la Cocarde, Air & Space Museum, Paris.

President and CEO of Garuda Indonesia Emirsyah Satar said that winning the “The World’s Best Economy Class” award this year was the result of hard work and commitment from all Garuda Indonesia employees to deliver the best service to the customer. Last year, Garuda Indonesia was ranked the fourth place in “The Top Five Economy Class Airline”, after Singapore Airlines, Qatar Airways, and Asiana Airlines, and the eleventh place in “The World’s Top Airlines” by Skytrax.

“Thanks to the strong commitment from the management and employees to deliver the best, Garuda Indonesia’s performance is being more and more recognized globally; and this serves as a motivation for us to better serve our customers and to continuously improve our performance through the ‘Quantum Leap 2011 – 2015’,” he added.

Both awards were given to Garuda based on a global customer satisfaction survey conducted by Skytrax of 18 million passengers from 100 different countries between July 2011 and June 2012. The survey, carried out since July 2012 till June 2013, targeted more than 200 domestic and leading world airlines and measured 38 aspects about the airline’s products and services.

With the arrival of two Boeing 777-300ER aircraft early in July 2013 and others two aircraft by the end of 2013, Garuda Indonesia will soon launch a “First Class” service. Garuda will operate the “state-of-the art” Boeing 777-300ER to serve the Jakarta – Jeddah route early in July and the Sydney – Jakarta – London route towards the end of 2013.

The “First Class” service comes complete with “Chef on Board” serving “Fine Dining” and catering to passengers requests at an altitude of more than 35.000 feet, and “In-flight Connectivity” to enable passengers to continue their business activities during flight or access their favorite entertainment, such as live soccer games in the sports channel.

As the airline continues its company transformation and fleet development program, in 2013 Garuda Indonesia will welcome 24 new aircraft, consisting of four Boeing 777-300 ER, three Airbus A330, ten Boeing 737-800NG, and seven Bombardier CRJ1000 NextGen. Through the “Quantum Leap 2011 – 2015” program, by the year 2015 Garuda Indonesia will operate as many as 194 aircraft, from the current total of 112 aircraft.

Source : ACN Newswire