SkyTeam alliance member Garuda Indonesia will reduce its flights between Jakarta and London Gatwick in favour of additional flights to Amsterdam.
From July 22, Garuda’s London services drop from five-times-weekly via Amsterdam to three-times-weekly, and retain the Dutch detour in each direction.
That’s also when the airline launches its newest route, Jakarta-Singapore-Amsterdam.
Running three days per week, this offers travellers a total of six weekly Amsterdam-bound flights – up from five at present – with the return leg from the Netherlands skipping the Singapore stopover to fly non-stop to Jakarta.
Flight schedule: Jakarta to London, Amsterdam
On Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays, Garuda’s Jakarta-Amsterdam-London flights (GA88) depart the Indonesian capital at 11:10pm to reach Amsterdam at 8:30am the following morning. After a two-hour transit, the onward flight pushes back at 10:30am and touches down in London at 10:35am local time.
Returning via Amsterdam on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays, GA89 is wheels-up from London at 12:25pm – arriving in Amsterdam at 2:45pm, continuing the journey at 4:45pm before landing in Jakarta at 11:50am the next morning.
Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays see the Jakarta-Singapore-Amsterdam services also flying the GA88 banner, leaving Jakarta at 8:50pm, reaching Singapore at 11:50pm, continuing the journey at 1:30am and then touching down in Amsterdam at 8:30am local time one day after initially departing.
In reverse, the non-stop Amsterdam-Jakarta services take flight at 4:45pm on Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays as GA89, with passengers disembarking at 11:50am the following calendar day.
What it means for Aussie transit passengers
Garuda flies non-stop from Sydney, Melbourne and Perth to Jakarta, with passengers able to fly onwards from there to Amsterdam and London.
Here’s what the new flight routings and timings mean for Aussie travellers taking the Kangaroo Route or zipping to Amsterdam for business or pleasure.
Sydney, GA713/712: Flights to Jakarta on Wednesdays come with a five hour transit time, Friday flights offer transits of just 1hr 55m, Saturdays have a 7hr 20m transit while Sunday flights don’t provide same-day connections.
Returning home, travellers will spend 11hr 50m on the ground at Jakarta’s Soekarno–Hatta International Airport on all days that the airline flies onwards to Sydney.
Melbourne, GA717/716: Saturday flights provide an ideal connection with a gap of just 2hr 15m between flights, while on Tuesdays and Sundays that stretches to seven hours and on Thursdays you’ll arrive five minutes after the Europe-bound flight has already departed.
After making the long journey from London or Amsterdam back to Jakarta, you’ll spend 10hr 40m in waiting before flying home to Melbourne on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays – there’s no connection to Melbourne’s overnight flights on Wednesday evenings.
Perth, GA725/724: Fly to Jakarta on Tuesdays and Sundays and you’ll have a brisk transit time of only 1hr 55m, although Thursdays and Saturday services don’t pair with an onward journey.
It’s also bad news on the return with a staggering 22hr 15m wait in Jakarta when the airline has a Jakarta-Perth flight on the following day, so consider a short domestic hop across to Denpasar (Bali) and then journey home from there with Garuda that same afternoon.
