Asian carrier Garuda Indonesia is planning a major expansion into the Chinese market, according to its chief executive officer Arif Wibowo, who revealed in a recent interview with an industry publication that the carrier could add service to ten additional destinations in the country in the coming years.

Garuda Indonesia currently offers links to China’s big three cities from its base at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport. Although it has served all three markets for over ten years it was only in July 2009 and January 2010 that it introduced regular flights to Shanghai and Beijing, respectively. The Guangzhou link has been its mainstay in the Chinese market feeding into the operations of its SkyTeam alliance partner China Southern Airlines, while a new Denpasar – Beijing link was launched this year.

In the interview with Business Traveller, Wibowo outlined Chengdu, Chongqing, Harbin, Nanjing, Ningbo, Shenyang, Taiyuan, Wuhan, Xian and Zhengzhou as possible future markets for the carrier. The Indonesia – China market is highly competitive one with four other airlines – all Chinese operators - flying between the two countries alongside Garuda.

The SkyTeam connection dominates with China Southern linking Jakarta with Guangzhou and Denpasar with Guangzhou and Shenzhen, China Eastern Airlines linking Denapasar to Shanghai and offers seasonal flights to Beijing (it has also provided links to Nanning and Nigbo to support Chinese New Year demand) and Xiamen Airlines linking Jakarta to Fuzhou and Xiamen. Elsewhere, Air China also offers a link between Jakarta and Xiamen, while Hainan Airlines and Sichuan Airlines flew between the two countries up until last year.

In the table, below, we look in greater detail at annual segment demand between Indonesia and China by point of origin and destination in the latter country. The data shows that demand has risen 186.3 per cent over the past ten years, an average annual rise of 20.7 per cent. In 2014 an estimated 760,000 bi-directional passengers flew on the scheduled flights between the two countries, up 27.1 per cent on the previous year.

In other developments Garuda’s CEO, Arif Wibowo, confirmed that the carrier will seek to continue growing its European network with its Boeing 777-300ERs being deployed on new routes to Frankfurt and Paris. The carrier currently operates six examples and will receive three of its four outstanding aircraft before the end of 2015.

The London market had been earmarked for these aircraft with a direct link between Jakarta and London Gatwick, however, issues with Runway performance at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport means the flight cannot currently be operated non-stop with a full payload.

Garuda is currently serving the UK market via Amsterdam, and Wibowo told Business Traveller the route, which launched in September last year will be expanded before the end of this year. "At the moment it is a four times a week service, and by the end of the year we are planning daily." said Mr Arif Wibowo,” he said.

“We are seeing a month-by-month improvement in the performance of this flight both in terms of load factor and price. London is a significant backbone for Indonesia. Our aim in Europe has to be non-stop flights from Jakarta to all the major points in Europe. To start with it is only Amsterdam, but London is a crucial market and a part of our long term strategy. The market size to Indonesia from then UK is 150,000 passengers each year and so we will increase frequency towards the end of this year," he added.