Garuda Indonesia East. In 2009, Garuda Indonesia expressed an interest in joining the SkyTeam airline alliance, which would make it the second airline in Southeast Asia to join after Vietnam Airlines. Membership would open SkyTeam's network to Indonesian, Australian, and New Zealand markets, which it lacked connectivity to. In December 2009, three SkyTeam members – Korean Air, KLM, and Delta Air Lines (China Airlines joined as fourth member to support Garuda after its 2011 SkyTeam inclusion) – committed to supporting Garuda Indonesia to join SkyTeam. This made Garuda Indonesia eligible to apply for membership in the alliance. On 23 November 2010, Garuda
Garuda Indonesia Citilink, which provided low-cost flights to multiple Indonesian destinations and was spun-off in 2012. The earliest predecessor to Garuda Indonesia was KNILM, Royal Dutch Indies Airways, founded in 1928 during the Dutch colonial period; despite the similar name, it was not a subsidiary of the main Dutch carrier KLM. KNILM was dissolved in 1947, and its assets were transferred to a new KLM subsidiary, KLM Interinsulair Bedrijf (KLM Interinsular Service), which was nationalized in December 1949. The name "Garuda" was derived from a Dutch poem written by a renowned Javanese scholar and poet Raden Mas Noto Soeroto; ""Ik ben Garuda,