Published on January 12, 2015
Along with the continuous growth in the number of tourists from China who spend their holidays on the enchanting Island ofBali, Garuda Indonesia, official airline of Indonesia has launched regular direct flights between Beijing and Bali. The inaugural flight from Bali to Beijing is to take place on 12th January 2015, while the Beijing to Bali flight will take off on 13th January 2015.
Using Airbus A3330, there will be three flights a week on the Beijing-Bali direct route adding to direct flights already on the Beijing-Jakarta route which flies four times weekly. The Bali-Beijing route will be served Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays every week. The flight from Bali to Denpasar will depart Ngurah Rai International Airport on Bali at 21:45 Central Indonesia Time, arriving in Beijing at 05:00 hrs local time. From Beijing, the flight to Bali departs at 06:30 hrs local time and arrives at Ngurah Rai International airport at 13.00 hrsm Central Indonesia Time.
There are nearly 100 million outbound tourists from China who travel on their vacations every year. Among these only about 800,000 people visit Indonesia (mostly to Bali). This is one of the main considerations to establish the new direct flight route which will provide easier connectivity between the two countries.
Arif Wibowo, CEO of Garuda Indonesia in a press release explained that currently Garuda Indonesia serves flights betweenJakarta and Beijing. Aside from Beijing, there are also flights from Shanghai and Guangzhou in China to Jakarta and Bali. Arif is convinced that with the opening of the new direct flight route, the number of tourists from China to Indonesia and especially to Bali will increase significantly.
“We are certain that the number of tourists from China to Bali will increase” stated Arif Wibowo.
The Bali-Beijing route is a vital addition to the Jakarta-Beijing route to boost the Chinese market to Indonesia which is currently growing with leaps and bounds. The route connecting Bali and Beijing is a vital link since Bali is known as the main gateway for tourists to the sprawling Indonesian archipelago. In this context, therefore, Jakarta serves as hub for business people , while Bali is Indonesia’s tourist hub.
Garuda Indonesia also encourages tourists from China to visit other equally fascinating destinations around Bali such as to the island of Lombok Island and Manado in North Sulawesi. Aside from the non-stop regular direct flights, Garuda Indonesia will also provide charter flights to Bali and Manado from a number of cities in China such as from Chengdu, Chongqin, Ningbo, and Kunming. These special flights will be made available in connection with this year’s Chinese New Year holiday using Boeing 747-400 aircrafts.
Garuda Indonesia will also optimize its resources to develop flight services to a number of cities in China including Chengdu, Chong Qin, Ningbo, Kunming, Jinan, Harbin, and Shenyang by charter flights and open new routes from Chengzhou to Bali in February 2015 and to Manado on July 2015.
Arif Wibowo added that currently Garuda Indonesia is yet to have the code share cooperation with airlines from China to expand the network in the country. However, Garuda Indonesia is already a member of Skyteam which include Chinese Airlines like China Southern Air and Chine Airline. In future, efforts will be made to establish code share cooperation with these two airlines.
