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Virgin Australia has flown what it says is the first commercial flight from the Gold Coast to Bali, as Air New Zealand relaunches a route to Denpasar from Auckland.
Flight VA83 landed in Denpasar at 10:08pm last night, using a Boeing 737-800, having taken off from the Gold Coast at 6:15pm. Virgin bills it as one of its most anticipated short-haul international services, with daily flights to operate in school holiday periods and four return flights per week during the off-peak.
According to Virgin Australia’s chief strategy and transformation officer, Alistair Hartley, this is the first time any commercial airline has flown directly between the Gold Coast and Denpasar.
“Bali is an incredibly popular destination for us, and we now operate more than 40 services a week between Bali and Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and the Gold Coast,” he said.
“It is clear Australians want to get out and travel and have a wonderful experience along the way. The expansion of the Virgin Australia network to include direct flights between the Gold Coast and Bali reflects this.”
Queensland Airports Limited chief commercial officer Adam Rowe said that locals will now have an easier connection to a Bali holiday.
“This new connection makes Bali holidays quicker and easier for Gold Coast and Northern NSW locals, removing the need for connecting flights, or long trips up the motorway,” he said.
Separately, Air New Zealand has also resumed nonstop flights from Auckland to Denpasar, with the first Boeing 787 Dreamliner landing yesterday at 3:40pm as flight NZ64.
The seasonal service will continue three times per week until it wraps up in October, increasing to five times per week during the busier winter and school holiday period from 26 June to 30 July. More than 10,000 seats on the route were sold in the first week, said Air New Zealand chief customer and sales officer Leanne Geraghty.
“Bali is one of our most popular routes, with more than 17,000 customers welcomed onboard our Air New Zealand aircraft bound for Denpasar in 2019 alone,” she said.
“We’re thrilled to be able to help connect New Zealanders to this holiday hot spot once again. This is the last of all our international and seasonal routes to get up and running again post-COVID, so this certainly shows we are bouncing back.”
Bali is the most popular international destination for Virgin rival Jetstar, with the low-cost carrier seeing more than 1.1 million customers on its Denpasar routes since reopening them 12 months ago.
