DENPASAR, Bali, 23 February 2022: Bali’s steps to recovery begin with three foreign airlines indicating they will launch flights to Indonesia’s top holiday destination.
It’s a far cry from the pre-Covid times when more than 30 airlines served the destination daily. Still, officials told the local news channel Bali Sun they were “so happy to hear that these three international airlines plan to resume their regular flights to Bali.”
They will join Garuda that started a flight from Tokyo to Bali and Singapore Airlines. Foreign airlines are awarded discounts on airport and landing fees to encourage them to resume services to Bali. However, as Garuda is home-based in Indonesia, it failed to secure the discounts on international flights from Tokyo earlier this month, according to travel industry experts who posted on their Facebook pages.
Jetstar Airways, Scoot and KLM Royal Dutch are prepared to start scheduled flights in early March, landing at Bali Ngurah Rai Airport from Australia and Singapore. Airport officials called it a ” positive sign that will generate trust from foreign visitors who want to start travelling to the island again”.
The Bali Sun reported KLM Royal Dutch plans to fly the Singapore-Denpasar route four times weekly as an extension of its service from Amsterdam to Singapore.
Jetstar Airways intends to resume its Denpasar-Singapore, Denpasar-Sydney and Denpasar-Melbourne routes with three flights weekly. Scoot will fly the Singapore-Denpasar route also with three flights per week.
“We hope that the number of international flights to Bali gradually increases and that this will positively affect the economy,” Fahmi concluded. Since Garuda and Singapore Airlines resumed their international flights to Bali in early February 2022, Bali Airport has recorded 639 passengers.
(Source; Bali Sun and Facebook)
