Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair 2016!

Welcome to the 2nd Garuda Indonesia Travel Fair (GATF) of the year, a.k.a GATF2016.

This has been the days where travel expo are coming one after another, be it online and in physical exhibitions. There is an entrance ticket to the expo of IDR 30,000 per person. The fee is waived for holders of Garudamiles Gold & Platinum. Such a pity as the expo used to be free for all Garudamiles members regardless of their tier level.

The event garnered a lot of attention from locals in Jakarta who are looking for discounted airfare, and when the event was officially opened on Friday, the queue was snaking all the way to the parking lot. Crazy, you might say!

New "Super Diamond" Business Class Seat

Super Diamond seats are available on the newest batch of Garuda Airbus A330-300s. They are appearing on the Denpasar- Tokyo, Sydney, Melbourne flights alongside a few rotation of Jakarta to Bali. One might hope that these seats will takeover the older angled-flat seats on the existing A330 aircraft, but that is yet to be confirmed.

On a 1-2-1 configuration, with a reverse herringbone model, the seats are expected to offer greater level of privacy and comfort. Alongside an enhanced storage space for personal belongings, in addition to a larger IFE screen.

Sleeping mode features a lie-flat bed with a duvet padding for extra comfort.

New Amenity Kits across all classes

New amenity kits in economy offers ear-plugs, eye shades, and toothbrush kits, on a mini batik-patterned amenities bag. Way to go, Garuda!

Reinvented Amenity kits for Business Class with bags designed for males and females (green and brown, respectively) featuring products from Clarins.

While First Class passengers are receiving an amenity kit from Hermes. Alongside with a set of slippers for them to navigate the aircraft comfortably.

Dining experience on Business/First Class

Other travel Exhibitions

The travel fair was joined by a number of foreign tourism boards, each promoting the beauty of their home country to expo visitors, bags and luggage retailers, and not to mention travel agencies who sold the promotional tickets.

Garuda's low-cost arm Citilink is also having an event, where lucky winners could win free air tickets or the grand prize, a Fiat car.

A picture with Ms Ayu, who explained the new "Super Diamond" seats to us.

Thanks everyone, hope you enjoyed the GATF coverage and those of you who were there, hope you got the promotional tickets you were looking for! :)

SQ Introduces Jakarta to Sydney!

What a surprise! Congratulations to Singapore Airlines launches a new nonstop Jakarta to Sydney services, as a tag-on from the Singapore-Jakarta-Sydney route.

Effective November 23rd, the new flight operates in a timetable as follows (source: airlineroute.net) :

SQ261 SIN2015 – 2100CGK2225 – 0930+1SYD 772 135 SQ262 SYD1100 – 1435CGK1535 – 1810SIN 772 246

This marks the massive expansion for Singapore Airlines in Australia, given that it has recently introduced the "Capital Connect" routing between Singapore-Canberra-Wellington, becoming the only international route that out of the Australian capital.

In my opinion, the presence of Singapore Airlines will be a challenge to the existing competition, which is Qantas and Garuda Indonesia. Singapore Airlines has a loyal customer base in the Indonesian archipelago, including those who were willing to fly to Australia via Singapore. Having nonstop services will make it even easier for these customers to fly SQ to Australia.

While Qantas may be benefited from the Australian-based corporate contracts, and the connection it offers to destinations in Australia and New Zealand, Garuda may be taking the bigger hit, as they share a relatively similar customer base with Singapore Airlines.

Purely speculative from my side, but in response, they may be forced to upgrade their product on the Jakarta to Sydney route with a B77W, or rearrange their Sydney services. What are your thoughts about this new route?

Qantas Day Out (2) : The Qantas Heritage Center

Being one of the oldest airline in the industry, Qantas most definitely has a rich history. Hence, it is no surprise that I am intrigued to explore more of their stories, at the Sydney Airport's Qantas Heritage Center.

Opens on Monday-Friday from 09.30 to 16.30, the Heritage Center is situated at Qantas Domestic Terminal 3, Mezzanine level, on the dome right above Gate 11-13. Admission into the facility is free of charge.

Reception desk at the Qantas Heritage Collection center, along with a replica of the Qantas B787 Dreamliner which is expected to be operational in 2018.

Each of the banner tells you the journey of Qantas from its early days, to the day it is becoming a major international carrier today.

Miniature Collections

Flight instruments and a model of Qantas B747SP series, which used to be the backbone of Qantas long-haul services in the 1970-1980s.

Replica of a Qantas Lockheed Super Constellation (nicknamed "Connie"). In 1957 Qantas used to have 34 of these aircraft on the fleet. The Constellation allows Qantas to expand its world network, with a multi-stop "Kangaroo Route" via Asia and the Mediterranean, or the trans-pacific route to San Francisco via Hawaii and Fiji.

The Qantas Boeing 747-300 "Nalanji Dreaming", which is personally my favorite Qantas livery.

Miniature of aircraft operated by Qantas in present and the past.

Trip down the Memory Lane: Past Uniforms and Publications!

Exhibition of a range of Qantas Crew's past Uniforms and publications. If you've flown Qantas on the past decades, this corner will certainly capture your attention!

Introduced in 2013, this is the current Qantas crew uniform, designed by Melbourne-born designer Martin Grant.

Based on Aboriginal motifs, it is the Qantas crew uniform 2003-2013, designed by Peter Morrisey. It has a slightly refreshed look in 2008, but is still in line with the Aboriginal motifs.

In 1995, the Qantas crew had a more corporate appearance, with a uniform designed by George Cross. Further behind, was the uniform used in the 1980s, which was designed by Yves-Saint Laurent.

Trendy and Colorful, it was the theme in the 1974 introduced Qantas crew uniform. The Emilio Pucci designed uniform continued to be in use until 1986.

The memorabilia and cutleries used for the meal service back on the Qantas B707-320 services. Called the V-jet, the B707 was a breakthrough as the jet engines cut travel times on many of the Qantas routes.

Publications and memorabilia from the Super Constellation days!

The Heritage Collection Center also provides a vantage-point to tarmac actions at SYD. You can also watch planes take-off and lands from this point.

Conclusion

If you have extra time in between your flights, the Qantas Heritage Collection Center is certainly worth a visit for visitors of all ages. You get to learn some history of one of the world's oldest airline, or you can simply get a front-row seat watching planes taking-off and land.