Garuda Indonesia has returned to the red, posting US$63.2 million in losses in the January-June period of the year, compared with $29.3 million in profits it enjoyed in the corresponding period last year. The company’s revenue, meanwhile, fell by 4.1 per cent to $1.76 billion from $1.84 billion last year.

Garuda Indonesia president director Arif Wibowo said various factors had contributed to the decline, including the deployment of new aircraft and global economic growth coming in below expectation. The company will put into service 17 new aircraft this year, nine of which were deployed in the first quarter.

“The routes with wide body to Europe, Japan and Korea have not been satisfying,” he said on Monday when addressing the airline’s load factor. On average, this is our investment in the low season, which will gradually pay off with a better load factor in the second semester which in general is the high season,” he added.

Garuda’s newly appointed CFO and risk management head Helmi Imam Satriyono said the company’s new focus on cargo, which is strictly a bellyhold product, would also boost revenue, which currently stands at $20 million per month and is expected to rise to $30 million per month in the second semester. From January to June, revenue from Garuda’s cargo business increased by 8.0 per cent to $107.78 million

The company also opened up several new routes for domestic and international flights, including from Jakarta to its new UK base in Heathrow. So far, the load factor for flights to Heathrow, which includes a transit in Singapore, had climbed to 80 per cent from around just 50 per cent in the first quarter, the carrier said.