Garuda Swings To 9Month Profit Despite Haze

Garuda Indonesia swung to a net profit for the nine months ended September from a loss a year ago, helped by lower fuel prices and cost reductions.

Garuda made a net profit of USD$50.1 million compared with a USD$222.3 million loss a year ago, it said in a stock exchange filing. The airline made a USD$22.4 million profit for the July-September period, higher than the USD$16.3 million profit it booked in the second quarter and USD$11.4 million in the first quarter.

The haze that has blanketed Southeast Asia as a result of Indonesian forest fires in the past few months had cost Garuda about USD$8 million in lost sales and other expenses, Garuda chief executive Arif Wibowo told reporters.

Around 120,000 passengers had cancelled their flights in September alone, Wibowo said. But the outlook for the rest of the year was still positive as the October-December period was a seasonally strong quarter due to the year-end holidays.

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