Garuda Indonesia is once again suspending services to London, putting commercial reality before national prestige.
The Indonesia carrier will axe services to London Heathrow in August this year as part of a network restructuring initiative aimed at reducing losses.
London is currently served three times weekly on a Jakarta-London-Bali-Jakarta routing. Garuda’s only other long-haul route, Jakarta-Amsterdam-Jakarta, is reportedly being reduced from six to three weekly flights, according to CAPA - Centre for Aviation.
Garuda resumed serving London in December 2018, reinstating three weekly Jakarta-London-Jakarta flights only two months after suspending the route in October 2018. The Bali stop on the return sector from London was added in January 2019.
But it has struggled to make the route profitable given the number of rival airlines who can offer more direct and timely schedules between Bali and Jakarta and London.