Garuda Indonesia (GA, Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta) has issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for the wet lease of widebody aircraft for the 2023 Hajj season for charters between Indonesia and Saudi Arabia running May 24 through August 2, 2023.
The Indonesian flag carrier is soliciting bids for any of the following aircraft types: B747-400, A330-200, A330-300, or B777-300(ER), capable of operating from Indonesia to Madinah and Jeddah International without technical stops. The aircraft have to be of 2003 vintage or younger. Only operators or aircraft owners may tender proposals with brokers and other intermediaries explicitly excluded. The deadline for submissions is not later than 2359L (1659Z) on February 19, 2023.
Garuda Indonesia did not specify the required cabin configuration or the number of aircraft it was planning to lease in the RFP. However, it has previously told ch-aviation that it would lease in at least two aircraft with a minimum capacity of 360 seats.
The Indonesian flag carrier will use the added capacity to supplement its in-house fleet of six B777-300(ER)s and nine A330s to be deployed on the Hajj charters.
Chief Executive Ifran Setiaputra told a parliamentary committee that the airline would charge IDR32.7 million Indonesian rupiahs (USD2,150) for a roundtrip Hajj package this year. He stressed that the airline was calculating the cost based on below-market fuel prices and assuming the same cost of wet-leased capacity as in 2019. Garuda's margin on Hajj charters is 2.5%, Setiaputra said.
