Batik Air Malaysia to Fly Perth-Auckland

A Batik Air Indonesia Boeing 737-800 with Garuda Indonesia plane in background at CGK — A Batik Air Boeing 737-800. Photo: Matt Graham.

A Malaysian airline will soon compete with Air New Zealand offering non-stop flights between Perth and Auckland.

From 24 August 2023, Batik Air Malaysia (formerly Malindo Air) will operate six weekly services from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland via Perth. Seats are available to passengers flying all the way through from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland, as well as the individual Kuala Lumpur-Perth and Perth-Auckland legs.

Batik Air Malaysia will use a Boeing 737-8 MAX aircraft for the Kuala Lumpur-Perth-Auckland route. The airline already flies between Kuala Lumpur and Perth, with the Auckland leg becoming a fifth-freedom extension of this service.

At first glance, Perth may not seem like a logical stopover point between Malaysia and New Zealand. But the Perth stop only adds 8.8% of flying distance between Kuala Lumpur and Auckland, while also allowing Batik Air Malaysia to tap into the underserved Perth-Auckland market.

Malindo Air 737 economy cabin — Batik Air Malaysia Boeing 737 cabin. Photo: Matt Graham.

Batik’s Perth-Auckland schedule is similar to Air New Zealand, with a redeye from Perth to Auckland and a morning departure in the opposite direction. Here’s the schedule:

OD195 Perth 18:05 – Auckland 04:45 (+1 day) – flight time of 6 hours, 40 minutes
OD196 Auckland 07:00 – Perth 10:40 – flight time of 7 hours, 40 minutes

Seats are already available for sale on malindoair.com. Fares currently start from $1,078 return in Economy or $3,328 return in Business, which is similar pricing to Air New Zealand. However, as the flights have only just been loaded for sale, it is quite likely that cheaper sale fares will be made available closer to the route’s launch in August.

Batik Air Malaysia fares PER-AKL — Batik Air Malaysia fares from Perth to Auckland on the airline’s website.

Batik Air Malaysia offers good legroom in Economy and reclining Business Class seating. Meals and a basic selection of in-flight entertainment are provided on board. However, unlike Air New Zealand, the Business Class product is not lie-flat – it’s closer to Premium Economy.

Batik Air Indonesia Boeing 737-800 Business Class seats — Batik Air Boeing 737 Business Class seats. Photo: Matt Graham.

Air New Zealand normally flies a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on the Perth-Auckland route, but is currently using a wet-leased Wamos Air Airbus A330-200 for this service. This is a temporary measure until 28 October 2023.

The last airline to provide non-stop competition to Air New Zealand on the Perth-Auckland route was Qantas. From 2013 until 2015, Qantas flew a limited seasonal Airbus A330-200 service on weekends. Over those years, that route ran for a couple of months over the summer.

Batik Air Malaysia also operates flights from Kuala Lumpur and Bali to Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Note that it’s a different airline to Batik Air Indonesia, although both airlines are part of the Lion Air Group.

Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia X currently also flies from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland, although that service stops in Sydney.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 80 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include economics, aviation & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.

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Daver6 May 21, 2023 #1

Good luck to them. Dodgy brothers airlines for way too long in a single aisle plane. No thanks!

Reply 4 Likes

Scarlett May 22, 2023 #2

That is quite an interesting route! If the PER-AKL segments are available for sale at a decent price in J then it could be quite an option.

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M MEL_Traveller May 25, 2023 #3

My experience of checking Batik Air out of melbourne is that their business class prices have been very high… no cheaper than VA or JQ. I’m not expecting heavy discounting on the NZ legs, but hopefully will be surprised.

It’s a long flight in a recliner business class.

exceladdict May 25, 2023 #4

At the least, it's competition on a route to keep the price pressure on.

Reply 1 Like

X XWu May 28, 2023 #5

The J class pretty much what’s on offer on a domestic VA or QF flight. Granted its a long leg between stops

H HS-TQE May 29, 2023 #6

And also provides the PER-AKL route with a LCC Y option as well, with the pre-book meal option available for Y bookings as per most of their Value/LCC competitors.

Scarlett May 29, 2023 #7

Just remember that it might say Batik on all the livery and marketing, but it’s 100% Lion Air training, procedures and culture. And that’s not a good thing…

Reply 2 Likes

AIRwin May 29, 2023 #8

A Lion in Batik clothing...

Reply 3 Likes

H HS-TQE May 29, 2023 #9

And they were 'full-service' Malindo Air in Malaysia before they were merged into 'Value-Orientated' carrier Batik Air (another brand within Lion Group).

P Pointyendonly Jun 09, 2023 #10

I had the displeasure of flying four sectors on Batik Air from Perth to KL then to Bali and Jakarta to KL and onto Perth
The cabin crew were obviously not interested in their jobs
On the Perth to KL leg the crew slept in the empty Business class seats and on the floor in the galley.
The food on all sectors was discusting more of a budjet carrier's attempt at a shoddy economy class meal on coughpy white china
On the Kuala Lumpa to Bali sector Business class had no opperational toilet so the three pax up the front had to use the economy toilets at the rear of the aircraft
I do not drink but there was no alchohol offered only Tea,Coffee and a small assortment of can drinks
I definately give this airline a big thumbs down especially trying to take on the big boys
7 hours plus on a 737 is no joke and their airfares in Business class are totally non compeditive with Air New Zealands pointy end or Qantas
Note to the disabled flyer if you chose to fly Batik Air on such a long sector from Auckland to Perth not only are you going to encounter extremely tight toilets but Batik's menu serve many spicey Malaysian food and a roll and a poor desert (Business class only)
I would rather book Air New Zealands premier economy saving nearly $450 on the matching Batik Business class fare and be gauranteed the same amount of luggage,excellant meal choices more leg room the only slight drawback no lounge use.
My prediction this carrier will not sustain the trans tasman flights due to being an allround budjet carrier with little service and fares including Business class are non refundable
For thoes on a budget then Batik maybe a new carrier of choice but for everyone else lets just wait and see