Garuda Indonesia has responded to increased demand for Bali by adding extra capacity from Darwin, Melbourne and Sydney, with further additions from Perth anticipated.

The number of Australians travelling to Bali in the first quarter of 2008 increased by more than 57% against last year, with larger percentage growth from Perth and Darwin (75% and 71% respectively), 44% from Victoria/Tasmania an 49% from NSW/ACT.

In order to meet this growth Garuda Indonesia will additional flights to their Darwin, Melbourne and Sydney to Bali routes over the next few months.

On 25 June, a third Darwin flight will commence, departing on a Wednesday and adding an additional 134 seats to the route.

This will be followed on 22 July by the introduction of a fourth Melbourne service operating from Bali to Melbourne on a Tuesday and returning to Bali on a Wednesday.

On 2nd September two more services will be added to the Australian network. These will include a sixth flight on the Denpasar Sydney route and a fifth flight between Melbourne and Bali. 

Mr. Poerwoko, General Manager Australia & Southwest Pacific, Garuda Indonesia, said, “The introduction of these new services will bring an additional 1013 seats to the Australian routes which should go some way towards addressing the growing demand for Bali as a holiday destination.

The capacity increase and the recent endorsement of the International Air Transport Association through inclusion on the highly respected IOSA* Registry, (the benchmark for global safety management in airlines), paves the way for a new period of confidence and expansion for Garuda Indonesia.

Bali is enjoying all-time record visitor arrivals in 2008 and, being Visit Indonesia Year, it is hoped that this will extend to Indonesian destinations beyond Bali also.”

The additional services will bring Garuda Indonesia’s weekly Australian operation to 31 flights per week from four Australian ports of Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Darwin with further capacity expected on the Perth route as soon as the new 737-800NG aircraft arrive.

*IATA Operational Safety Audit

Details of the further additional flights are as follows:

Effective 22 July:
A new flight departing Melbourne on a Wednesday, will bring the total frequency of flights from Melbourne to Bali to four, departing Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. The new flight will depart Bali on Wednesday at 2355hrs arriving in Melbourne on Thursday morning at 0725hrs and departing again at 0955, arriving in Bali at 1355hrs local time.

Effective 02 SEP08: Sydney will receive two new flights which will operate on a Tuesday and Friday, but will its Thursday flight will be redirect to Melbourne as a further additional service. Thus Melbourne frequency will increase from four to five flight per week and depart daily except Monday and Saturday, and Sydney frequency will increase to six flights per week and operate daily except Thursday by Airbus A330 aircraft. The new Tuesday and Friday flights will depart Bali just after midnight at 0025hrs and arrive in Sydney at 0755hrs. They will depart Sydney again at 1030hrs and arrive in Bali at1500hrs local time.

Media contact: Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan 02 9977 1011/ 040409 5326 e: