Citilink

If you stand at the fence in Jakarta, Surabaya or on Bali, Citilink is one of the airlines you will get in front of your lens most often. The low-cost subsidiary of Garuda Indonesia connects the country’s islands with a fleet made up mostly of Airbus A320s – supplemented by turboprops for the smaller airports. This page shows you where Citilink comes from, which types it flies and how to reliably tell it apart from the many other Indonesian airlines.

Citilink at a glance

Citilink is an Indonesian low-cost airline based in Jakarta and part of the Garuda Indonesia group. The story begins in July 2001: Garuda founded Citilink as its own budget brand and gave it two Fokker F28s from the main fleet at launch. Citilink was not yet a separate airline at that time – the flights operated under the umbrella of the parent.

That changed in 2012. After a short break of the brand in 2008 and a restart in early 2009, Citilink received its own air operator certificate in summer 2012. With independence came its own codes, a new logo, a new livery and its own uniforms. Since then Citilink has been a subsidiary in which Garuda holds practically all shares.

In the Indonesian market Citilink has a clear role: Garuda serves premium and long-haul customers, Citilink picks up price-conscious travelers – and thereby competes directly with the Lion Air group and with Indonesia AirAsia. In a country with thousands of inhabited islands, the airplane is the most important means of transport on many routes, and that is exactly where Citilink earns its money.

Codes and callsign

• IATA code QG: appears in the flight number – on the departure board, on the ticket and in schedules.
• ICAO code CTV: appears in the air traffic control flight plan and on most flight trackers.
• Callsign SUPERGREEN: this is how the crew identifies itself on the radio.

The callsign is one of the most memorable in Asia and points directly to the green brand color. If you listen to a scanner signal or an ATC live stream at your spot, you can identify Citilink flights with it even before you have visual contact.

The fleet: A320 family plus ATR

Citilink’s fleet history can be told in three phases: first Fokker F28s, then older Boeing 737s, finally Airbus. A decision from 2011 shaped today’s fleet: Garuda ordered A320s for its subsidiary at the time and later expanded the order. Since then the A320 family has been the backbone. The Boeing 737-300 and 737-400 disappeared in the 2010s, the 737-300 in 2015.

Type	Role at Citilink	Seats (approx.)	Spotter note
Airbus A320ceo	Workhorse on domestic routes	180	The largest type by number, gradually being retired
Airbus A320neo	Successor to the ceo, more aircraft on order	180	Larger engines, becoming more common over the years
ATR 72-600	Shorter routes, smaller airports	70	Turboprop with high wings
Boeing 737-500	One-off in cargo service	–	Rare exotic, not in passenger service
Airbus A330-900	Historic episode from 2019	–	Ex-WOW air aircraft, later moved to the parent Garuda

According to common reference works, the fleet most recently stood at around 60 aircraft, by far the largest part of them A320ceos and A320neos, plus a handful of ATR 72-600s. These numbers keep changing: older A320s are leaving the fleet, more neos are on order. For your planning, the exact number is therefore not what matters but the pattern – if you see Citilink, you almost always see an A320.

The jets are built by Airbus, the turboprops by the French-Italian manufacturer ATR. The ATR order from the end of 2012 was the first that Citilink placed directly with a manufacturer – a step that underlined its new independence.

The A330 episode: widebody jets from Iceland

A special feature of Citilink’s history is the two Airbus A330-900s. They were originally built for the Icelandic low-cost airline WOW air, which ceased operations in March 2019. At the end of 2019 the two widebody jets came to Citilink – an unusual step for an airline that otherwise flies exclusively short and medium haul. Connections to Germany, Japan and Saudi Arabia, among others, were under discussion at the time.

In June 2022 the A330-900s moved to the parent Garuda Indonesia, which used them for Hajj flights. For spotters this episode is above all one thing: a good story and a rare subject in old archives. If you plan a Citilink sighting today, you almost always see short- and medium-haul equipment – a widebody jet is the big exception.

A320ceo or A320neo? How to tell them apart

Because the switch from ceo to neo is in full swing at Citilink, a close look is worthwhile. Both variants wear the same livery and have around 180 seats at Citilink – the differences lie in the technology.

Important: sharklets alone are not a reliable neo feature, because many later ceos were also delivered with them. The most reliable are the engines. You can find a detailed guide in the article A320neo or ceo?. If you are unsure about the fuselage – for example with photos from a long distance – the guide to the A320 family helps you distinguish the A319 and A321.

How to recognize Citilink

With independence in 2012, Citilink got a new look in which green is the defining brand color – matching the callsign SUPERGREEN. On Indonesian aprons that is a real advantage: Lion Air flies with a red tail, Batik Air with dark red, Garuda with shades of blue and turquoise. Citilink stands out immediately in between.

Besides the standard livery, Citilink has repeatedly shown special liveries, including a retro design, advertising liveries for a travel portal and an anniversary livery for the 50th A320. Such aircraft are popular subjects – and because special liveries often disappear again after a few years, it is worth capturing them early. Where you find such aircraft is explained in the guide Finding special liveries, and how to document them systematically in the article Collecting special liveries.

Citilink in the Indonesian market

Indonesia is one of Asia’s largest domestic air travel markets, and hardly any market is so fiercely contested. For spotters that is a gift: at big airports such as Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta you see a whole series of Indonesian airlines in a short time – and have to keep them apart.

Airline	Group	Typical fleet core	Recognition aid
Citilink	Garuda Indonesia	A320ceo/neo, ATR 72-600	Green, code CTV
Garuda Indonesia	Garuda Indonesia	737, A330, 777	Blue/turquoise, SkyTeam member
Lion Air	Lion Group	Boeing 737	Red tail with lion
Batik Air	Lion Group	A320 and 737	Dark red with batik pattern
Super Air Jet	independent brand	A320 family	Young brand for price-conscious travelers
Wings Air	Lion Group	ATR 72	Turboprops of the Lion group

The comparison of Citilink with Super Air Jet is particularly interesting: both fly Airbus A320s in the low-cost segment – the color and the tracker code decide. It is similar with the turboprops: Citilink ATRs and Wings Air ATRs look the same in basic shape, and the livery separates them.

How low-cost carriers work with dense seating, short turnaround times and a uniform fleet is explained in the article How low-cost carriers work. Citilink follows this pattern but benefits from the backing of a large state-owned group.

New routes in 2026

Citilink’s network is strongly focused on the domestic market but keeps changing. In July 2026 the airline launched several new domestic connections from Yogyakarta, including to Batam, Balikpapan, Makassar and Banjarmasin – partly with the A320, partly with the ATR 72-600. In August 2026 Citilink also returned to Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung, where there had previously been no scheduled jet service for a long time.

Internationally, Citilink flies mainly within the region, such as to Singapore or Malaysia; there are also seasonal flights to Jeddah. The guide Plane spotting in Singapore presents the best photo locations in Singapore. Some former international routes, for example to Australia, were discontinued again. So check the current schedule before any planning – as of October 2026, the offering can shift noticeably from season to season.

Spotting Citilink: practical tips

For German spotters, Citilink is a travel sighting. But if you vacation on Bali or change planes in Jakarta, you have good chances of several aircraft a day. A few points help you along the way:

In tropical regions, pay special attention to light and weather: heat shimmer over the runway often makes telephoto shots blurry at midday, and thunderstorms build quickly in the afternoon. Early in the morning and late in the afternoon the conditions are usually better. How rare your sighting is by European standards, you can put in context with the article How rare is my sighting?.

Common mix-ups

• Taking Citilink for a SkyTeam member – only the parent Garuda Indonesia is a member of the SkyTeam alliance, not Citilink itself.
• Confusing Citilink and Garuda – in poor light green and turquoise look similar; titles and the tracker code CTV or GIA bring clarity.
• Taking sharklets as a reliable neo feature – many A320ceos also wear sharklets, the engines are the better criterion.
• Taking a Citilink ATR for Wings Air – both fly the ATR 72, the livery separates them. How to tell turboprops apart in general is shown in the guide Telling ATR and Dash 8 apart.
• Searching for QG on the tracker – it usually shows the ICAO code CTV, not the IATA flight number.
• Expecting an A330 – the two A330-900s were an episode, in everyday operations Citilink flies almost exclusively short and medium haul.

Conclusion

Citilink is the green face of Indonesia’s low-cost market. Behind the brand stands the Garuda group, on the apron mainly the Airbus A320 – with the ongoing switch to the neo generation and a small ATR fleet for the shorter routes. If you take along the color, the engines and the PK- registration, you can classify every Citilink aircraft cleanly and clearly set it apart from Lion Air, Batik Air or Super Air Jet.