New Bali service ready for take-off

NIGEL ADLAM

July 19th, 2010
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A NEW air service between Darwin and Bali is to start in October.

It will operate four times a week using 180-seat Airbus A320 planes.

Malaysia-based AirAsia will operate in competition to Jetstar, which has had a monopoly on the route since Garuda pulled out last year.

The service will be run by AirAsia's Indonesian arm.

Territorians will be able to fly to Kuala Lumpur via Bali and access the airline's network of cheap services including flights to Europe.

Return fares to London can be as little as $500.

Jetstar said yesterday it was not surprised that AirAsia was starting up a Darwin-Bali service.

The Australian airline operates a daily service to Denpasar and has connections from Bali to Singapore.

Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway said the Darwin-Bali service was timed for seamless travel from around Australia.

He said flights from interstate arrived to link with the service if needed.

Mr Westaway said passengers could holiday in Bali and then kick on to Singapore, where Jetstar serviced 20 destinations.

"And that's separate from the Qantas services from Singapore," he said.

Mr Westaway said Jetstar was developing flights hubs at Darwin and Singapore.

The Northern Territory News predicted in March that AirAsia would start operating a Darwin-Bali service before the end of the year.

Territorians have complained that AirAsia changes flight times with little notice.