Garuda Indonesia, the first and biggest airline in Indonesia, has been striving to offer more flight choices and better services for Chinese customers since it entered the Chinese market in 2002.

It serves as a bridge in the air between the two countries, with various strategies to expand the market.

As China is one of the most essential air transport markets in the Asia-Pacific region, the airline attaches great importance to the Chinese market and keeps improving its services.

The airline will have daily flights from Shanghai and Guangzhou to Indonesia and will have daily flight from Beijing from Oct 29.

It will also have 21 non-stop weekly flights from the Chinese mainland to Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia.

With good connections to the Garuda Indonesia domestic network, it will be more convenient to visit tourist attractions such as Bali, Surabaya, and Lombok.

To make passengers feel at home, there is at least one Chinese attendant on flights from China to Jakarta.

The airline introduced the "immigration on board" service on flights from Shanghai to Jakarta in May.

It's an immigration document clearance process for all passengers during the flight.

Thanks to the service, travelers don't have to queue up for visa on arrival and immigration clearance.

It's more convenient for them to visit Indonesia.

It also enhances the tourism service level to promote the country as a destination. The airline will have Boeing 777-300ER flight from Shanghai to Jakarta every day after Nov 7.

It is the airline's first class service in China.

Passengers in the first class can enjoy a "chef on board" service that offers a choice of delicious meals ordered from the menu. The chef then cooks for them at an altitude of more than 35,000 feet.

As the latest airplane type of the airline, the plane's capacity is 314 passengers, including eight seats in first class and 38 in business class.

It has won the title of "Best Aircraft Type" in its class for five consecutive years in the "Leading Edge Awards" by Executive Travel, a magazine in the United States.

This year, Garuda Indonesia will receive 24 new aircraft including four out of a total 10 Boeing 777-300ER aircraft on order.

In addition, the plane is also equipped with "in-flight connectivity" allowing passengers to use WiFi and watch live broadcasts from six international channels including CNN International and BBC World.

Garuda Indonesia's performance is recognized as "international level".

After winning the title of "The World's Best Regional Airline" in 2012, it was named "The World's Best Economy Class" in June by Skytrax- a London-based global airline ranking consultancy.

Garuda Indonesia also ranked the 8th Best Airline in the world on Skytrax's 2013 Top 10 World's Best Airlines List.

With the praise from the industry, the airline will make more effort to achieve its goal of becoming a five-star airline by Skytrax by 2015.

To improve its e-commerce services, Garuda Indonesia recently introduced new feature for Internet booking engine on its website, www.garuda-indonesia.com, with multiple languages and easy transactions with more than 15 available currencies for online flight reservation.

As a part of its business expansion to the Chinese market, the airline also cooperates with the leading Chinese online payment platform Alipay to offer online payment services in China.

Garuda Indonesia is confident about the Chinese market.

With Alipay's database of more than 8 million users, and the increasing trade and economic activity between Indonesia and China, the airline expects growing online sales in particular for the Chinese market, so to become more competitive in the region.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily USA 10/08/2013 page16)