THE EARLY 1960s are considered to have been the glory days of Garuda Indonesia Airlines, with a fleet of new Electras and the hotrod of the skies, the Convair 990A, taking the carrier to Hong Kong, Rome, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Paris and even Canton (Guangzhou) via Phnom Penh. It was considered among the best airlines in [...]

Even though I fly a couple of times a week — and should be sick of traveling by now — I’ve never lost my childhood fascination with airplanes and airlines. (I can still remember long-departed carriers such as MSA, BOAC and Pan Am.) So when I read that Garuda was undergoing a transformation, I became [...]

Kopi Luwak or Civet Coffee is coffee made from coffee berries which have been eaten by and passed through the digestive tract of the Asian Palm Civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus) and other related civets. The civets eat the berries, but the beans inside pass through their system undigested. This process takes place in the islands of Sumatra, [...]

While most Asian carriers are reducing capacity in the face of the downturn, Garuda Indonesia has been expanding and posting profits. Garuda made a net profit of 669 billion rupiah ($67 million) last year and for the first half of this year the numbers are higher. This profitability to the Indonesian economy which, unlike many other [...]