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Just two months after launching a new service between Canberra and Denpasar, BatikAir is reducing its service to Bali to just two flights per week.
The service was originally planned to be offered three times a week, but demand for this flight fell short of forecasts.
BatikAir service from Canberra Airport to I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport is operated by a Boeing 737-800 with 162 passenger seats.
The service was initially launched with a return schedule every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
However, the airline has just announced that it will be removing the Wednesday service from its flight schedule for the foreseeable future.
Canberra Airport’s aviation chief Michael Thomson told reporters the airline intends to reinstate the Wednesday service, or at least a third weekly service when peak travel season returns.
Thomson said: “I think they should be able to cope very well with three flights during the peak period over Christmas and then perhaps scale back in the quieter months until they are established.”
He noted that travel within the Canberra region could support this flight frequency over time, comparing demand for travel from Canberra to Bali with increasing demand for flights to Fiji.
Thomson explained that Fiji Airways initially started operating flights from Canberra twice a week and quickly increased the number of flights to three times a week.
He told reporters: “These things take time… We saw with Fiji that the first three months were quite a struggle, but then in the sixth month things started to turn around and now they are going very, very well.”
He remains confident that the connection between Canberra and Denpasar will be strengthened in the coming months and that the future remains bright for both destinations.
He said that greater awareness of the air service may be needed to encourage tourists to make flight bookings.
Thomson explained: “It will take a while for more and more people to become aware of the service and start booking it. And when that happens, I think they will look at how they can expand.”
He added: “Our inclination and desire to travel internationally is very strong; our economy is still very strong comparatively and our income levels are among the highest in Australia. So all of those things fit pretty well with people who want to travel internationally.”
However, since flights between Canberra and Bali are time-limited, BatikAir’s main competitor AirAsia has just launched a new flight service from the “Land Down Under” to the “Island of the Gods”.
The new flight from Bali to Cairns started on August 14, 2024 and will operate three times a week.
On the occasion of the launch of the flight service, Veranita Josephine, CEO of AirAsia Indonesia, said in a press release: “Cairns has much to offer our millions of guests from Bali and across Asia, in addition to breathtaking views of the world-famous Great Barrier Reef.”
She added that “the opening of this flight route could open up the opportunity for residents of Cairns and surrounding cities such as Mackay and Townsville to fly to Bali. Although Bali is one of Australia’s most popular destinations, there are many other destinations in Indonesia.”
Bali is expected to experience its busiest tourism year ever, with Austrian tourists continuing to be among the most frequent international visitors to the island.
To support the ever-increasing number of new flight connections, I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport is currently installing additional automatic gates in the arrival and departure terminals to speed up immigration services, which have long been one of the causes of long queues for tourists.
