Jakarta. Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia recorded that around 25,000 people had left Jakarta ahead of the Eid holidays so far.

The Eid exodus crowd has begun to embark on their trips, although the holidays will officially begin on March 28. Tens of thousands of them had already traveled by air -- particularly using Garuda Indonesia aircraft -- over the weekend.

"Garuda Indonesia recorded that 25,000 passengers had left Jakarta about nine or ten days before Eid [or on March 22-23]," the company's corporate communications head Dicky Irchamsyah said over the weekend.

This marks a 21 percent increase in traffic compared to the previous weekend. The traffic of Eid holidaymakers will reach its peak on March 28.

Garuda Indonesia has prepared 1.9 million seats for the Eid homecoming, the largest that the airline had ever allocated for the holidays in the past three years. About 1 million will be seats in Garuda, while the remaining 902,000 will come from its low-cost brand Citilink. It has also increased the airline frequency to 10,906 flights for both airlines. About 95 aircraft -- comprising 61 Garuda and 34 Citilink planes -- will be in service for the big holiday. This year, the flag carrier will assign 1,497 cockpit crewmembers and 2,443 cabin crew staff on duty.

"We have set up Eid posts in every airport. There will be a hotline [that our passengers can access]. ... All Garuda Indonesia employees will be on duty. So people can come across the company's directors at the airport during Eid," Garuda Indonesia's commercial director Ade R Susardi said.

The Transportation Ministry survey showed that nearly 146.5 million people or about half of the country's population would travel during the Eid holidays. Almost 19.8 million people picked to travel by air.

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