Garuda Indonesia to tap Alfamart c-stores for airline ticketing

Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has signed an agreement with convenience store chain Alfamart to provide consumers an access to the airline company’s direct ticketing system, reported atwonline.com.

Alfamart c-stores, with presence outside major urban areas where cash transactions are more prevalent than credit card use, can accept cash payments for plane tickets from those who live in far-flung towns.

"With this partnership we will make it easier for Garuda Indonesia to service users [who can] make payments through a network of more than 11,000 Alfamart, Alfamidi, and AND+AND outlets throughout Indonesia," Garuda spokesperson Handayani said.

Garuda has also started looking into offering convenience store payment system in other countries and explored the possibilities of working with Japanese c-store chain Lawson.

The c-store payment system has become popular in Asian countries like in the case of Vietjet Air whose tickets are offered in local banks while Lion Air and Air Asia opt to offer plane tickets in convenience stores.