Garuda Indonesia, the flag carrier of the eponymous nation, is a major player in the highly lucrative travel market between Australia and southeast Asia, connecting the cities of Melbourne and Sydney to a host of destinations through its hub at Jakarta. In Melbourne’s case, Garuda serves the city from both Jakarta and Denpasar. Today, we will be flying to the former locale.
Server: Solo
Airline: Garuda Indonesia
Aircraft: Airbus A330-300
Origin: Melbourne Airport, Tullamarine, Australia (MEL)
Destination: Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Tangerang, Indonesia (CGK)
Flight Number: GA717
Route: YMML-WIII
Seat: 39A (Economy)
Time En Route: 6 Hours 58 Minutes
Boarding at Tullamarine’s Terminal 2, handling all international flights. We’re in for a treat today, because our aircraft has the latest configuration in the Garuda fleet, configured as 24J/263M
Pushing back
Mid-afternoon takeoff
Climbout as we head northwest
Leveled off at our cruising altitude of 34,000 feet. The captain says it should be a relatively smooth ride, so the seatbelt sign is off and we are free to move about the cabin.
Over the middle of Australia. After some tough times, Garuda has come roaring back as a 5-star airline as per SkyTrax, and the service in economy is no exception, rivaling premium economy or even business on U.S. carriers.
Last rays of sunset over Bali
Making preparations for our descent into Jakarta
Landing on the ground after barely under 7 hours en route
Parked at Terminal 3 after a long taxi from the other side of the airport