Bali’s Leaders Urging The Government For More International Flights And Lower Airfares

Bali's Leaders Urging The Government For More International Flights And Lower Airfares

Bali Airport now serves 22 international and 21 domestic flight routes each week, several of which are operated by numerous airlines many times per week, but it’s not enough.

Bali’s government leaders urge ministers to fulfill their promises to lower airfares and expand aircraft capacity. Dewa Made Indra, the Bali provincial secretary, told reporters on Sept. 28 that he is encouraging the government to keep its promises.

“The number of flights from abroad and within the country to Bali is still lacking. We hear that from people from Ministries and Institutions who visit Bali for the event. Because they are very enthusiastic about holding events in Bali, but [because of] aircraft [capacity], it’s still difficult,” he said.

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Although the number of tourists is increasing and more foreign delegations are attending the G20 Summit kick-off events, he pointed out that more needs to be done to ensure that the supply of aircraft keeps pace with demand.

He admitted that while there are now significantly more flights available since the borders reopened, the number of international flights now scheduled at Denpasar’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport is still lower than before the pandemic started.

He explained “For domestic tourists, the number of visits has reached 12 thousand per day, for foreign tourists the average visit is 10 thousand a day. Compared to the initial opening of tourism, this number is extraordinary. But it has not recovered as before COVID-19.” He thinks that all Bali needs is more international flights in order to effectively recover from the pandemic.

Indra confirmed that he had contacted the Minister of Transport and asked to increase the number of flights to Bali. He acknowledged that he knew this could not be done immediately because coordination with the airlines was needed. Nevertheless, Indra is asking the Ministry of Transport to make it as easy as possible for airlines to operate in Bali and expand their services.

When asked about airfare costs, he said, “this is back to the market, if there are many visits to Bali, they will definitely dare to lower prices. Tickets are still expensive, right because they require high operational costs because their planes are not full.”