Raja Ampat has long captured the imagination of foreign and international tourists alike, with its rich variety of marine life, beautiful landscapes and remote location offering unforgettable getaways in a remote corner of the Indonesian archipelago. Starting from this March, this distant location will be easier to reach than ever before, thanks to a new route being opened by national flag carrier, Garuda Indonesia.
Starting from 10th March 2018, Garuda will launch daily return flights from Jakarta in Java, to Sorong in West Papua; from Sorong, the famous islands of Raja Ampat can be reached by a 2-hour speedboat ride. The new flight service is expected to bring Raja Ampat within the reach of more tourists than ever before.
Nina Sulistyowati is Garuda Indonesia’s Marketing and IT Director. She confirmed the new routes, and outlined their importance to a diverse range of flyers, during a recent interview with the Jakarta Post:Â “With the opening of the Jakarta-Sorong return route, in addition to increasingly boosting and developing tourism potential in the West Papua region, of course, it would also provide more convenience for business actors who travel to and from the capital city of Jakarta,” confirmed Ms Sulistyowati in a statement quoted by the JP yesterday (6/3/18).
Flight GA 682 will depart from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport at 12:20 a.m. local time and arrive at Domine Eduard Osok Airport in Sorong at 6:35 a.m. Sorong is two hours ahead of Jakarta. The return flight, coded GA 683, leaves Sorong at 7:25 a.m. and arrives back in Jakarta at 8:55 a.m. Garuda’s new Jakarta-Sorong route will be served by Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft, each with a capacity for 162 passengers, comprising 12 business-class seats and 150 more available in economy.
Garuda Indonesia already operates flights to Sorong via several other cities around Indonesia, such as Makassar in South Sulawesi, Manado in North Sulawesi and Ambon in Maluku. The new service is their first direct flight to West Papua from the nation’s capital.
