Jakarta, IO – Daily directs flights from I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport to Xiamen Gaoqi Airport are now open effective Friday (3/3). Director General of Civil Aviation M. Kristi Endah Murni hopes this will increase the number of foreign arrivals and boost the economy, especially that of Bali.
“The increased arrival of foreign tourists from China will have positive impact on tourism and the economy of Bali given that China is a potential market for Bali’s tourism,” said Kristi, reported Katadata, Monday (6/3).
Kristi revealed that since the beginning of 2023, as many as 1,143 Chinese tourists have visited Bali. This route is also the first regular flights from and to China after the Covid-19 pandemic.
The flight, which uses Xiamen Airlines’s 169-seat Boeing 738-800, departs at 11.15pm local time from Xiamen and returns at 12.15am WITA. This will complement the once-a-week charter flights from Shenzhen (SZX) using Lion Air’s Boeing 737-900.
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“Now there are two cities in China, namely Xiamen and Shenzhen, which are directly connected to Bali through regular and charter flights,” said Kristi.
In early March 2023 direct flights were also operating once a week from Tokyo Narita Airport (NRT) to SAM Ratulangi Manado Airport (MDC) operated by Garuda Indonesia using a 250-seat Airbus A333. (un)