The head of the Indonesian House of Representatives’ 2024 Hajj Supervision Team said more airlines may be able to offer Hajj flights in the future. Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar said at a press conference on July 1 in Jakarta that he would like to open the market beyond Jakarta, currently limited to Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) and Saudia (SV, Jeddah International), “so that there is no monopoly and the service is more competitive.”
Several committees will review issues related to Hajj flights this year, he said, including delays, allegations of visa buying and selling and swaps of planes to smaller models that have led to the fragmentation of pilgrim groups. Last week, Garuda CEO Irfan Setiaputra said restrictions at Saudi airports had required changes to 46 flights for this Hajj season, but added that the airline was working with local authorities to “smooth things out” and minimise disruption to travellers.
Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country and Hajj flights are a lucrative business. This year, Garuda Indonesia has leased at least seven aircraft specifically for Hajj operations, including an A340-300 from Legend Airlines (Romania); an A330-300 from Thai AirAsia X; an A330-300 from World2Fly (Portugal); two B747-400s from Terra Avia; an A330-300 from SM Executive Aviation; and a B777-200ER from Eastern Airlines. During the hajj season, Garuda is scheduled to carry approximately 109,000 passengers on 282 flights from various airports around Jakarta.
During the week of 8-14 July inclusive, ch-aviation capacity data indicates that the two airlines have a combined total of 42,364 seats on the country pair. Flights are now heavily weighted towards round-trip flights to Indonesia (29,453 seats, or 69.5%). Of these, Saudia provides 22,272 seats, or 77.32% of the total. Flights to Saudi Arabia are much more balanced. Of the 12,911 seats available, 6,681 (or 51.75%) are provided by Garuda and 6,230 (or 48.25%) are provided by Saudia.
