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Canberra has its second post-pandemic international route with the commencement of a Batik Air service to Denpasar.
Flight ID6015 arrived in Canberra just after 6am on Friday morning, 14 June, on board the 737-800 PK-LDK, and took off for Bali at 9:16am. Batik Air will operate three return flights per week between Canberra and Denpasar, with 162 seats in each direction including 12 business and 150 economy.
The Canberra-Denpasar service comes after Fiji Airways became the first airline to offer international flights outside of Canberra post-pandemic last July.
“The arrival of Batik Air offers Canberrans, and a million others in the wider region, access to a global network of more than 50 destinations, including Hong Kong, China, Malaysia and India,” the airport said in a press release.
“Canberra is Batik Air’s fifth Australian destination, and the airport’s second international airline, with Fiji Airways offering a direct service to Nadi three times a week.”
The route, announced in February, will open up more international connection options for Canberrans, with Denpasar as of this year hosting flights to 43 non-ANZ destinations.
Speaking at the time of the announcement, Chandran Rama Muthy, group strategy director at Batik Air, said the airline aims to connect Canberra passengers to other Indonesian destinations including Labuan Bajo, Lombok, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Makassar, and Manado.
“Our objective is not only to attract travellers from Canberra to Bali but also to unveil exciting opportunities for exploration in Indonesia’s diverse secondary destinations served by Lion Air.
“We are dedicated to enhancing connectivity and making travel more accessible for passengers from Australia and Indonesia, and this new route reaffirms our dedication to that objective.”
Bali has become one of Australia’s most popular international holiday destinations, with at least eight airlines flying there and load factors estimated at around 85 per cent.
Jetstar looks likely to prevail over Virgin Australia in the battle for more seats to Denpasar, with the International Air Services Commission (IASC) last week issuing a draft determination proposing to grant 2,320 seats of passenger capacity per week to Jetstar and knock back Virgin’s application for 2,464 seats. The decision would allow Jetstar to launch 10 new Bali services per week.
