Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine February 2019 | Page 131

History of Garuda Indonesia
GARUDA INDONESIA, THE NEW ERA
OF INDONESIAN CIVIL AVIATION
The First Indonesian
Commercial Flight
Indonesian civil aviation has its
origins in an initiative from the
Indonesian Airforce when its
aircraft, called ‘Indonesian
Airways’, was rented to the
Burmese government on
January 26, 1949. The role of
‘Indonesian Airways’ ended
following the Dutch–Indonesian
Round Table Conference the
same year, leading to all the
aircraft returning to the
Indonesian Airforce.
The Emergence of an
Indonesian National Airline
With the signing of the Dutch–
Indonesian Round Table
Conference in 1949, the
Netherlands was required
to surrender all of the assets
of the Netherlands East Indies
government to the government
of the United States of Indonesia,
including the KLM-IIB
(Koninklijke Luchtvaart
Maatschappij Inter-Insulair
Bedrijf) airline. KLM-IIB was a
subsidiary of KLM that had taken
over the K.N.I.L.M (Koninklijke
Nederlandshindische Luchtvaart
Maatschappij) private airline,
which had existed since 1928 in
the Netherlands East Indies.
The Birth of Garuda Indonesia
Airways (GIA)
On 21 December 1949,
following the Dutch–Indonesian
Round Table Conference,
negotiations were held between
the Indonesian government
and KLM about the creation
of a national Indonesian airline.
President Soekarno decided upon
‘Garuda Indonesian Airways’
(GIA) as the name for the new
airline. In preparation for the
eventual transfer over to
Indonesian airline staff,
KLM provided its own staff on
temporary assignment to transfer
skills to the new Indonesian
airline staff. Thus the first
Director-General of GIA
was a Dutchman,
Dr E. Konijnenburg.
Classic Garuda
1949–1969
1
Photo 1: Garuda Indonesia’s document.
2
3
Photo 2: Garuda Indonesia’s Internal Magazine
"Rajawali", No. 1 Vol. XXX 1989.
The First Garuda Indonesia
Airways (GIA) Flight
A day after the recognition
of the sovereignty of the Republic
of Indonesia by the Netherlands
on December 28, 1949, two
Dakota (DC-3) aircraft left
Kemayoran airport in Jakarta
for Yogyakarta to meet President
Soekarno and bring him to
Jakarta, the newly reinstated
capital of the Republic of
Indonesia. From that moment,
GIA grew to become known as
Garuda Indonesia.
Photo 3: “Pesona Dirgantara”.
1 21 December 1949, negotiations
between Indonesian government and
KLM-IIB representatives led to the founding
of flag-carrier Garuda Indonesian Airways.
2 First flight of Garuda Indonesian Airways.
3 Service with the first uniform.
129