Indonesia’s favorite island has been reconnected with Amsterdam, Melbourne, Singapore, and Sydney.
The lakefront temple of Pura Ulun Danu Beratan. (Photo: tawatchaiprakobkit/iStock)
AirAsia
Malaysia’s biggest budget carrier and its subsidiaries elsewhere in Southeast Asia are gearing up to restart regular services to Bali in the coming weeks. Starting on March 21, AirAsia will operate thrice-weekly flights from Kuala Lumpur. Each Sunday, Monday, and Friday, Flight AK 376 will depart at 10:50 a.m. and touch down in Bali at 1:55 p.m. after three hours and five minutes in the air; frequencies are being bumped up to daily in April.
Indonesia AirAsia will offer daily return services between Bali and Singapore from April 1, while Thai AirAsia is following suit the next day with the resumption of twice-weekly flights from Bangkok Don Mueang, scheduled on Tuesdays and Sundays. The latter plans to add an extra weekly service come May, when Philippines AirAsia relaunches its daily nighttime service from Manila.
Garuda Indonesia
The Indonesian national airline has been running weekly services from Sydney to Bali since March 4. Taking six hours and 30 minutes to complete the journey, and operated with an Airbus A330-300, Flight GA 715 will take off from Kingsford Smith Airport at 11:45 a.m. every Friday to reach Bali at 4:15 p.m. the same afternoon. But Sydney-based travelers will be well advised to look for an alternative on the way back, as Garuda’s current routing includes a four-hour layover in Jakarta, which doubles the overall travel time to a little over 13 hours.
A Jetstar Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner at Sydney Airport. (Photo: Bidgee/Wikimedia Commons)
Jetstar Airways
This Australian low-cost carrier resumed operations on the Melbourne–Bali route this morning, with more than 300 passengers booked on its first flight to Bali in almost two years. Boeing 787-8 aircraft will depart the Victorian capital at 9:55 a.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Saturdays, and arrive at Ngurah Rai International Airport at 12:45 p.m. (The estimated journey time is five hours and 50 minutes.) From March 28, these flights will leave 20 minutes later and an extra weekly service added on Fridays. Frequencies will then be bumped up to daily from the middle of April.
Regular Sydney to Bali flights will be relaunched on a twice-weekly basis come April 3, before ramping up to six times a week from the middle of April and daily by the end of next month. Jetstar’s Bali-bound services from Perth are poised to start again around the same time, while those from Adelaide, Brisbane, Cairns, and Darwin have been penciled in for May.
Jetstar Asia
One of three airlines currently serving Bali from Singapore, Jetstar Asia is deploying Airbus A320-200 aircraft on the route every Tuesday, Friday, and Sunday morning. From March 27, frequencies will remain thrice-weekly, but departures are being moved to a later time: Flight 3K 241 will leave Changi at 10:45 a.m. and arrive in Bali at 1:40 p.m. after nearly three hours in the air. The return journey is a little shorter at two hours and 45 minutes, with Flight 3K 242 leaving Ngurah Rai International Airport at 2:25 p.m. and returning to Singapore at 5:10 p.m.
A KLM Boeing 777-300 taxiing at Schiphol. (Photo courtesy of KLM)
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Bali’s sole direct air connection with Europe is already bringing in holidaymakers from Amsterdam. Operated aboard Boeing 777-300 aircraft with a capacity of 408 passengers, Flight KL 835 now departs Schiphol at 8:05 p.m. on Sunday and Wednesday, to land in Bali at 7:45 p.m. the next evening after 16 hours 40 minutes including a stopover in Singapore. Once the clocks go forward in Europe on March 27, the departure time will shift to 9 p.m., though the estimated arrival will come a little earlier, at 7:25 p.m.
Scoot
Until March 25, Scoot is flying between Singapore and Bali three times a week, using Airbus A320 aircraft to carry up to 108 passengers every Sunday, Monday, and Friday. The start of the summer season on March 27 will see frequencies dramatically ramped up to twice daily. Operated aboard a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, Flight TR 820 will take off at 7:10 a.m. and reach Bali at 9:50 a.m. local time; A320s will continue to be utilized for Flight TR 284, which will leave Singapore at 11:20 a.m. and arrive at 1:50 p.m.
A Singapore Airlines Boeing 787-10 aircraft. (Photo courtesy of Singapore Airlines)
Singapore Airlines
SIA is currently deploying a Boeing 787-10 Dreamliner to Bali on a daily basis, with departures alternating between Flight SQ 938, which takes off from Changi at 9:05 a.m. to touch down at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport at 11:50 a.m., and Flight SQ 944 (scheduled at 4:20 p.m. for a 7:05 p.m. arrival). Singapore Airlines will then go double daily from March 20, with small adjustments in the timing: its morning service is set to depart 10 minutes later while the afternoon flight will leave 10 minutes earlier.
