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Indonesia AirAsia will suspend its Melbourne-Denpasar services just three months after their launch, and Adelaide-Denpasar a year in.
Services from both Melbourne and Adelaide to Bali will be axed from 18 June, with Captain Achmad Sadikin Abdurachman, general manager of Indonesia AirAsia, saying the decision was “not made lightly, but the current operating environment has made these routes no longer viable”.
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“This decision has been made in response to the sustained increase in global jet fuel prices caused by the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East. This operating environment has led to the need to refocus our network on routes that remain operationally viable at this time,” he said.
“AirAsia understands the suspension impacts long-made travel plans and we apologise for the inconvenience this decision has caused, and we want to thank our guests for their support and understanding.”
In a statement, AirAsia said it was “contacting affected customers directly, detailing the options available”.
“Where possible, AirAsia is committed to getting guests to their destination either through date changes, or via its Kuala Lumpur hub,” the carrier said.
AirAsia launched the daily services from Melbourne to Denpasar in March, having earlier cut its services to Darwin to redeploy capacity elsewhere in its Australian network; its Adelaide-Bali services launched in June last year before ramping up to daily in March.
More than 1.04 million passengers travelled between Melbourne and Bali in 2025, making it Victoria’s number one international destination. AirAsia was the sixth carrier on the route, alongside Qantas, Jetstar, Virgin Australia, Garuda Indonesia, and Batik Air Malaysia.
Both Qantas and Virgin have increased airfares due to higher fuel costs after Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which sees around 20 per cent of global oil traffic. The major carriers have also cut capacity on domestic services.
IATA director-general Willie Walsh said in a statement on March traffic that the price of jet fuel remains a significant concern for airlines, with estimates that it has more than doubled since the conflict began at the end of February.
“Everybody’s watching what’s happening with jet fuel – both supply and pricing. On the supply side, over the next months we could see shortages in parts of the world with high dependence on supplies from the Gulf, especially Asia and Europe,” he said.
“The extraordinarily high cost of jet fuel is increasingly being reflected in ticket prices. While this has not impacted March traffic or forward bookings to date, it remains to be seen at what point high prices could start to shift passenger behaviour.”
Australia has two operating refineries – Ampol in Brisbane and Viva Energy in Geelong – with a fire at the Viva plant in April reducing its capacity to produce jet fuel and avgas.
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