Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport is celebrating the launch of a new direct flight to Vietnam. In response to soaring demand for travel between the two destinations, Vietnam Airlines has officially opened a new service between Ho Chi Minh City and Denpasar.
Bali Airport has just celebrated the first Vietnam Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City to Denpasar. The route officially opened on Sunday 1st June and Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport welcomed 154 passengers plus crew into the terminal.
The aircraft quickly turned around, and not long after touching down in Denpasar, it was already back in the air, carrying 119 passengers to Ho Chi Minh City.
The service, operating on flight numbers VN641 and VN640 will operate four times weekly, every Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. As of July 2025, the service will operate daily. Speaking to reporters shortly after touching down the General Manager of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Wahyudi, said that the new flight services on offer from Vietnam Airlines are part of an effort to strengthen air connectivity and add international flight options to Bali.
He told reporters “The addition of this route is in line with PT Angkasa Pura Indonesia’s commitment to continue improving air connectivity and providing the best service for airport service users. We hope that this flight can increase the number of tourist visits from Vietnam to Bali, as well as open wider business and cultural opportunities for both countries.”
The inaugural service was met with much fanfare, including the attendance of the General Manager of Vietnam Airlines Indonesia, Tran Tuan Nghia, the Vietnamese Ambassador to Indonesia, Ta Van Thong, and Bali Airport management executives.
Tran Tuan Nghia told reporters, “We operated this route before in 2019, and we stopped it because of COVID-19, but the load factor (seat occupancy level) is very good. As we know, everything has just returned to normal after COVID-19, including Vietnam, and Vietnam Airlines reopened for tourism in mid-2023.”
“Then, we reopened flights to Jakarta but because of the impact of Covid our airline was quite heavy so it started to normal at the end of 2024 and today we can only reopen flights to Bali.”
He added “After the opening of the Ho Chi Minh City route to Jakarta and Bali, information from our Ambassador in Indonesia said that it is very possible to open direct flights from Hanoi to Indonesia, but this still needs more careful consideration,”
Since the end of the pandemic routes to and from Vietnam from Bali’s Ngurah Rai Airport were only served by VietJet Air, which currently connects Bali with two major cities in Vietnam; Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Between January and April 2025, the Vietnam flight routes served a total of 151,903 passengers with an average of 1,200 passengers per day.
During the same period, 6,724 foreign nationals arrived from Vietnam. The vast majority of travelers using the Bali-Vietnam route are tourists, holidaymakers, and business travelers seeking to explore Southeast Asia’s length and breadth.
Wahyudi told reporters, “With the return of Vietnam Airlines, it certainly improves passenger service at Ngurah Rai Airport with various flight options to various destinations. We also continue to coordinate with various parties to further increase routes and flight frequencies both domestically and internationally.”
With Vietnam Airlines’ return to the schedule at Bali Airport, the number of airlines operating flights at Ngurah Rai Airport has hit 52, of which 46 serve international routes. Bali Airport management has stated that they will continue to coordinate to open more routes and increase domestic and international flight frequencies.
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WAYAN BO
Thursday 5th of June 2025
To many U. S. soldiers was killed in this communistic country. R. I. P.
Firechef
Friday 6th of June 2025
@WAYAN BO, Called the price of War, has been since beginning of time. Fortunately I wasn't one of them.