Jakarta. Flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is banning employees from enjoying its free flight facility this holiday season. 

The blackout date -- days during which huge discounts and free flights are unavailable for employees -- will start from Dec. 18 and last until Jan. 8. Restricting employees from free travel will make sure that the seats go to paying customers. This policy is expected to give a major revenue boost to the company as it braces for an influx of vacationers, according to Garuda’s chief executive officer Irfan Setiaputra.

“The [blackout date] policy is set to have a huge impact on business. Garuda employees are just like everyone else. They also want to go on vacation. But if [our employees] go on holiday on the blackout date, that would eliminate the chances of paying customers to book a flight,” Irfan said shortly after his interview with IDTV in Jakarta on Thursday.

“If that happens, we are going to lose the chance of getting extra revenue,” Irfan said.

The policy does not mean the company is reducing the facilities that the employees -- as well as board members and commissioners -- are entitled to, according to Irfan. The Garuda boss added: “Even I have to pay for the tickets.”

Garuda -- and its subsidiary Citilink -- will provide a total of 1.8 million seats during the Christmas and the New Year holidays. Garuda is also switching from narrow-body planes to their wide-body counterparts to fit in more passengers. The company will increase the number of flights on popular routes. 

Based on past peak seasons, Garuda’s revenue and seat occupancy rate usually increase between 20 and 30 percent during the holidays. As Indonesia will hold its general election in February, politicians --and their campaign teams-- will likely tour around the archipelago to garner support. This campaign period is set to be a boon to Garuda.

“Hopefully, we can reach that 30-percent growth with this campaign season. Although we have not seen the campaign-induced traffic,” Irfan said.

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