The Airline: Garuda Indonesia

PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (IDX: GIAA), publicly known as Garuda Indonesia, is the flag carrier of Indonesia. It is named after the mystical giant bird Garuda of Hinduism and Buddhist mythology. It is headquartered at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, near Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. Most Garuda Indonesia shares are owned by the Indonesian government; the airline employs 5,808 staff (as of December 2010).

According to the sacred texts of Hinduism and Hindu mythology, Garuda is the carrier of the God Vishnu; a representation of Garuda appears in the National Emblem of Indonesia, Garuda Pancasila. The airline's main hub is Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, and the airline also has a hub at Ngurah Rai International Airport, Bali. The airline flies to a number of destinations in Southeast Asia, East Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Australia. It also previously flew to several destinations in North America. From June 2007, Garuda, along with all Indonesian airlines, was banned from flying to the EU. However, this ban has been lifted since July 2009. In May 2008, Garuda Indonesia received its IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) and in 2010 for the second time (consecutive).

Garuda Indonesia is listed as a 4-star airline by Skytrax, and is also listed among Skytrax's Quality Approved Airlines. In May 2010, the airline was named as the World's Most Improved Airline by Skytrax during 2010 World Airline Awards in Hamburg. Garuda Indonesia announced that it will join the SkyTeam airline alliance by 2012.

Indonesian description below:

Garuda Indonesia adalah maskapai penerbangan nasional Indonesia. Garuda adalah nama burung mitos dalam legenda pewayangan. Sejak Juni 2007, maskapai ini, bersama dengan maskapai Indonesia lainnya, dilarang menerbangi rute Eropa karena alasan keselamatan, namun, larangan ini dicabut dua tahun kemudian, tahun 2009, Setahun sebelumnya, maskapai ini telah menerima sertifikasi IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) dari IATA, yang berarti bahwa Garuda telah seluruhnya memenuhi standar keselamatan penerbangan internasional. Garuda masuk dalam daftar maskapai bintang empat dari Skytrax, yang berarti memiliki kinerja dan pelayanan yang bagus. Tahun 2012 Garuda akan bergabung dengan aliansi penerbangan SkyTeam