The airline is headquartered at its primary hub, the SoekarnoβHatta International Airport in Tangerang , near Jakarta. In , it was rated as a 5-star airline by the international airline review firm Skytrax.
Founded in as KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf , the airline is now a major airline and the 20th member of the global airline alliance SkyTeam. At its peak in the late s up to the mids, Garuda operated an extensive network of flights all over the world, with regularly scheduled services to Los Angeles , Paris , Rome , Fukuoka , Adelaide , Johannesburg , Cairo and other cities in Europe, Australia and Asia.
In , the airline undertook a five-year modernization plan known as the Quantum Leap , which overhauled the airline's brand, livery, logo and uniforms, as well as newer, more modern aircraft and facilities and a renewed focus on international markets, and earning the airline awards such as Most Improved Airline, 5-Star Airline, and World's Best Cabin Crew.
The airline also operated a budget subsidiary, Citilink , which provided low-cost flights to multiple Indonesian destinations and was spun-off in In its current institutional form, Garuda Indonesia had its beginnings in the Indonesian war of independence against the Dutch in the late s, when Garuda flew special transports with a Douglas DC The 26 January is generally recognized as the airline's founding date.
The name Garuda β in Hindu tradition, it is the name of Lord Vishnu 's mount vahana β was introduced in The first flight under the name of "Garuda Indonesian Airways" was made with a second DC-3 entering service in Its first flight, under the new name, carried Sukarno from Jakarta to Yogyakarta on December Throughout the revolution, Garuda supported national interests and often carried diplomats on its flights.
