Batik Air (Indonesia) to start Bali-Canberra

[HS-TQE]

With the high Canberra Airport fees, and Batik Air Indonesia largely using their two-class 737 and A320 aircraft, I would have to wonder if the yields are there for 12 J recliner seat/service between CBR and DPS.

As a Value Carrier, their Y class is the same as Virgin (BoB, although Pre-Booked Meal purchase options is available)

Earlier this month, Batik Air launched the direct Adelaide-Bali flight service.

The service from Adelaide means that tourists from eight Australian cities can now fly directly to Bali; Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Gold Coast, Melbourne, Sydney, and Perth. A new Canberra-Bali flight with Batik Air is due to launch in March 2024.

4 Major Airlines Announce Additional Flights To Bali

I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport has confirmed that four international airlines will be adding new flight services to the schedule.

thebalisun.com

 

[RSVKanga]

Well, this rumour has become a reality. Batik Air will launch DPS-CBR flights.

 

[Harrison_133]

From Canberra Airport's Instagram, 3x weekly service starts in June 2024.

 

[CargoClass]

Awesome announcement!

Hope its not the 737 Max 8...

Direct flights from Canberra to Bali announced

Today, Canberra Airport announced the launch of a new

www.canberraairport.com.au

 

[Blackadder]

More on CBR-DPS

Direct flights to Bali from Canberra Airport ready for take off | Riotact

The days of having to fly out of Sydney or Melbourne Airport to soak up the sun and sights in…

the-riotact.com

 

[Bali Guy]

Many people from Canberra and the surrounding region have been forced to travel by bus or plane to SYD to catch a flight to Bali.

I think that the Batik Air flights will be popular.

 

[anat0l]

Many people from Canberra and the surrounding region have been forced to travel by bus or plane to SYD to catch a flight to Bali almost anywhere outside Australia.

Fixed for you.

 

[DC3]

Many people from Canberra and the surrounding region have been forced to travel by bus or plane to SYD to catch a flight to Bali.

I think that the Batik Air flights will be popular.

And welcome to AFF

 

[RSVKanga]

I think that the Batik Air flights will be popular.

Who knows. The original Singapore Airlines flights from Canberra (the 2016-2018 SIN-CBR-WLG) lacked sufficient demand on all legs, and the 2018 adjusting of the route to SIN-SYD-CBR-SIN didn't help bring up the load factors.

Canberrans didn't seize this opportunity of having nonstop flights to a major world hub, and SQ found the perfect opportunity to cut the route in 2020.

And Canberrans don't mind catching connecting flights to SYD and MEL anyway.


My theory is that this route does have links to the upcoming ACT election, and is probably funded by the ACT Government just like how the Queensland Government (also an election year in Qld) are funding the BNE-DFW service (also just announced) through their AAIF.

 

[SeaWolf]

Who knows. The original Singapore Airlines flights from Canberra (the 2016-2018 SIN-CBR-WLG) lacked sufficient demand on all legs,

Might be more workable with the 737 MAX though, SIN-CBR is within its advertised range and the plane is intended for these "long and skinny" routes.

Many people from Canberra and the surrounding region have been forced to travel by bus or plane to SYD to catch a flight to Bali.

If the Batik air flights are cheap enough we might see people starting to that in reverse, coming from SYD to CBR for the flight! (Though there's definitely no shortage of cheap flights from SYD to DPS at the moment).

 

[Himeno]

Canberrans didn't seize this opportunity of having nonstop flights to a major world hub, and SQ found the perfect opportunity to cut the route in 2020.

And Canberrans don't mind catching connecting flights to SYD and MEL anyway.

Maybe they didn't like the poor timings of the flights out of CBR.

 

[clifford]

Canberrans didn't seize this opportunity of having nonstop flights to a major world hub, and SQ found the perfect opportunity to cut the route in 2020.

And Canberrans don't mind catching connecting flights to SYD and MEL anyway.


My theory is that this route does have links to the upcoming ACT election, and is probably funded by the ACT Government just like how the Queensland Government (also an election year in Qld) are funding the BNE-DFW service (also just announced) through their AAIF.

Well, that's very insightful (maybe), but when I flew CBR-SIN in J a few years ago the J cabin was quite full.

Perhaps marketing has something to do with it.

 

[Drakecula]

I've never been to Bali, but I might have to consider a trip with a direct flight option. Maybe next year if it's still going strong. I already have the kernels of a Japan trip planned for this year.

 

[kookaburra75]

Canberrans didn't seize this opportunity of having nonstop flights to a major world hub, and SQ found the perfect opportunity to cut the route in 2020.

And Canberrans don't mind catching connecting flights to SYD and MEL anyway.

There are two travel 'audiences' in Canberra. The government funded travel, who are self-shackled to Qantas and all the trappings, don't see/know the price and are ok with going via Sydney. And then, the rest of us, who get slugged by the Canberra-tax, due to the first lot. And we hate having to go via Melbourne or Sydney - too many delays and cancellations. Anyone travelling on an international flight always goes up the night before or uses the bus/train.

For work, I would use SQ prem econ to send the team to the UK and back, as timings worked well, with a late departure from Canberra and a 2pm arrival into Heathrow. I used it often to shuttle between Canberra and Wellington. QR were also ok, although their timings and prices varied. However, I could see that the loads were light, and it would have been hard to get the yields - not withstanding that those travelling for government travel are supposed to use the best-fare-of-the-day. QR's office was next to ours at the airport offices, so it was interesting having a chat about how it was going, plus got a guided tour of their B777.

Like @Drakecula we'll wait a year or so to see how the route settles down. Now if Bonza started coming through, that would help too.

 

[Bali Guy]

I agree that it is likely that a subsidy from the ACT Government would be paid to Batik Air to start these flights. I do not think that this subsidy is an election sweetener. Subsidies have been available for several years to any international airline willing to fly from Canberra.

I had a chuckle when I read the initial announcement. There was a survey done just after the pandemic on travel intentions. Every capital city in Australia reported that Bali was their No 1 choice, except Canberra which had their No 1 choice as the UK. At the time, I assumed that Canberrans were snobby and did not want to be associated with Bali Bogans.

 

[Warragul]

There are two travel 'audiences' in Canberra. The government funded travel, who are self-shackled to Qantas and all the trappings, don't see/know the price and are ok with going via Sydney. And then, the rest of us, who get slugged by the Canberra-tax, due to the first lot. And we hate having to go via Melbourne or Sydney - too many delays and cancellations. Anyone travelling on an international flight always goes up the night before or uses the bus/train.

For work, I would use SQ prem econ to send the team to the UK and back, as timings worked well, with a late departure from Canberra and a 2pm arrival into Heathrow. I used it often to shuttle between Canberra and Wellington. QR were also ok, although their timings and prices varied. However, I could see that the loads were light, and it would have been hard to get the yields - not withstanding that those travelling for government travel are supposed to use the best-fare-of-the-day. QR's office was next to ours at the airport offices, so it was interesting having a chat about how it was going, plus got a guided tour of their B777.

Like @Drakecula we'll wait a year or so to see how the route settles down. Now if Bonza started coming through, that would help too.

As an ex Government employee who travelled quite a bit for work during the last 10 years, one international flight on QF (to POM) and one return trip on QF codeshare (EK). Nearly all of the rest were on the ME3, including some the North America. The approval chain for the travel was generally hypervigilant about adhering to Best Practical Fare of Day rules, as was the travel section who processed the back end stuff. This was pretty much the experience for my colleagues as well. Yes there are little tricks one can try to go via city X instead of Y, thats about it. Maybe my department (one of the largest) was not the norm and admittedly I was not in the upper echelons of the executive or ministerial offices.

Corporate/government travel does make fares dearer into CBR as this type of travel is not as discretionary as personal travel.

The QR flights were lucky to have more than 30 people on them at the best of times

 

[kookaburra75]

As an ex Government employee who travelled quite a bit for work during the last 10 years, one international flight on QF (to POM) and one return trip on QF codeshare (EK). Nearly all of the rest were on the ME3, including some the North America. The approval chain for the travel was generally hypervigilant about adhering to Best Practical Fare of Day rules, as was the travel section who processed the back end stuff. This was pretty much the experience for my colleagues as well. Yes there are little tricks one can try to go via city X instead of Y, thats about it. Maybe my department (one of the largest) was not the norm and admittedly I was not in the upper echelons of the executive or ministerial offices.

Corporate/government travel does make fares dearer into CBR as this type of travel is not as discretionary as personal travel.

The QR flights were lucky to have more than 30 people on them at the best of times

It's true that over the past ten years, travel approval and expenditure has tightened up. Being a dreaded "contractor", I was on the receiving end of inconsistent decisions about travel on government projects e.g. can't charge for travel time, always in economy for international even when I had organised the meetings using my contacts, receipts required/not required. We should have a coffee to compare notes.

Unfortunately for us Ken-Behrens, QF seem to use the Govt Rates as the standard for all other fares - which is why we use Rex, Virgin, and the train where we can. I dream of $49 airfares.

 

[Bali Guy]

My daughter is a QF Platinum Flyer. The mantra quoted to her by HR is "cheapest fare on the day". HR is supposed to choose the flights from a panel of airlines.

In practice, public servants wangle the departure times, so they can fly with QF and rub shoulders with ministers and public service mandarins in the Qantas Lounge.

Public servants are not allowed to collect QFF points. Airlines are supposed to quote lower fares to the government because of this rule. In practice, I think that the government pays top dollar.

I doubt that Batik Air will get on this panel of airlines.

 

[Warragul]

Public servants are not allowed to collect QFF points. Airlines are supposed to quote lower fares to the government because of this rule. In practice, I think that the government pays top dollar.

Like everything it varied. In 2019, C class CBR-YUL-CBR for $6K via the ME with free hotel for overnight transit seemed okay. QF/AC etc quoted over $10K. That's the one that stands out as a relative bargain though.

I doubt that Batik Air will get on this panel of airlines.

Agree.

It's true that over the past ten years, travel approval and expenditure has tightened up. Being a dreaded "contractor", I was on the receiving end of inconsistent decisions about travel on government projects e.g. can't charge for travel time, always in economy for international even when I had organised the meetings using my contacts, receipts required/not required. We should have a coffee to compare notes.

Ah yes, the APS travel entitlements don't apply to contractors. At the mercy of the delegate and the funds in the charge code bucket.

 

[Reef]

Any idea when tickets between Canb and Denpasar will go on sale? Went on the Batik Air website today was advised that there are no ‘Flights do not operate on the date I searched’ [14 June 2024}.