JAKARTA  – Indonesia’s national airline, Garuda Indonesia, took delivery of three Boeing 737-800 Next Generation aircraft under a sale and leaseback agreement with MC Aviation Partners (MCAP), the aircraft leasing and trading arm of Mitsubishi Corporation.

Garuda Indonesia currently has on order a total of 50 Boeing 737-800NGs. To support its network expansion, Garuda Indonesia will be receiving 24 aircraft this year including 23 Boeing 737-800NG and one A330-200.

 “The new aircraft will be used on our domestic and regional routes and supports our five-year ‘Quantum Leap’ expansion strategy. We plan to increase the number of domestic departures by double to 2,072 per week and international departures more than threefold to 1,222 a week by 2014,” said Emirsyah Satar, president and CEO, Garuda Indonesia.

Garuda also plans to almost double its current fleet of 71 aircraft to 116 aircraft by 2014, based mainly on Boeing 737-800NGs and Airbus A330-300/200s, which are operated on medium and long haul routes.

The new Boeing 737 800NGs feature Garuda Indonesia’s new signature interior, with individual touch-screen LCD TVs throughout Executive and Economy Classes with Video on Demand entertainment systems offering 25 feature films and 25 audio tracks.

The airline also has on order 10 Boeing 777-300ERs which will be used on new ultra long-range flights starting 2011 as it expands its international network.