New Bali-Australia Flight Service Launched To Meet Rising Demand For Travel

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Batik Air has launched their direct Melbourne to Denpasar, and Sydney to Denpasar flight routes. The new connections makes it even easier for travelers to reach the Island of the Gods. The news comes just as demand for travel to Bali continues to soar after the Christmas and New Year holidays. 

The first Batik Air Melbourne-Denpsaar flight landed at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport on Thursday, 5th January, at 9.50 am. The aircraft was greeted by a water canon salute to celebrate the inaugural flight. The Boeing 738 aircraft carried 141 passengers and a full crew to land safely in Bali. 

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Passengers were welcomed into the terminal building by airport officials, including the General Manager of Bali Airport, Handy Heryudhitiawan. He told reporters, “the addition of routes to and from Australia is a strong signal that the Island of the Gods is increasingly in demand by Australian tourists”.

“Overall in 2022, Australian foreigners still dominated the number of international arrivals in Bali. It was recorded that 626,783 Australian tourists visited Bali throughout 2022. Australia is also the country with the most routes [serving Bali] with seven cities served”. 

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He continued to share his support with Batik Air for the launch of the Melbourne-Bali route. He added, “We congratulate Batik Air on the operation of the new Melbourne-Denpasar-Melbourne route. We hope this can be a driving force for the opening of other routes at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport by Batik Air.”

According to Heryudhitiawan, Bali Airport currently serves twenty-four international routes operated by twenty-nine airlines. Australia facilitated the most international routes to Denpasar with direct flights departing from Adelaide, Darwin, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, and soon the Gold Coast too.

Bali Airport sees, on average, nineteen flights arrive from Australia every day. When Batik Air announced the launch of the Melbourne-Bali route in June 2022, the initial statement shared that the service would operate four times a week. However, due to rising demand, the schedule will operate daily. 

Batik Air is a low-cost budget airline founded in 2013. It is a subsidiary of Lion Air, the parent company behind other familiar airlines like Malindo Air and Wings Air. Based in Jakarta, the airline operates flights to destinations throughout Southeast Asia and beyond. The airline connects Bali to other destinations across South East Asia, including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Bangkok. 

With Batik Air offering daily services from across Australia direct to Bali, the airline can certainly bank on becoming a firm favorite affordable airline for travelers heading to Bali. Jetstar is considered to have fallen out of favor with many Australian travelers after travel chaos over the Christmas and New Year Holidays.

Stories circulated widely about how Australian travelers who had long delays, lost and delayed luggage, and even had to make a U-turn back to Australia just an hour out from landing at Ngurah Rai International.

On 28th December, a Jetstar plane carrying passengers from Melbourne to the holiday resort island had to turn back 4.5 hours into the flight after the crew was informed that they did not have permission to land the larger aircraft in Bali.

Unbeknownst to travelers, Jetstar had changed the plane to a larger aircraft before boarding passengers. However, the airline failed to inform the Indonesian authorities, so the plane had to u-turn right at the last minute. 

Virgin Australia will launch direct flights from Gold Coast to Denpasar in late March. This will be the first direct flight service to run from Gold Coast, and the route makes life easier for the tens of thousands of travelers from Queensland who have to trek to Brisbane or layover in Syndey, Melbourne, or Darwin before their vacation can truly begin.