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ANOTHER foreign airline has opened a route to Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar, Bali. This time it is a budget airline, Jeju Air. This airline from South Korea has opened the Incheon-Bali-Incheon route. Jeju Air made its first landing on Sunday night (10/27).
With ticket prices starting from IDR2 million, this airline will fly regularly direct to and from Incheon, South Korea, without transit. Jeju Air will operate a Boeing 737 MAX 8 aircraft. The inaugural flight carried 178 passengers, who were greeted with a water salute and a traditional Balinese dance.
After arriving at 21:50 WITA yesterday, the aircraft resumed passenger service at 23:05 WITA and arrived in Incheon at 07:10 local time this morning.
“Jeju Air is the first and largest airline in South Korea to serve low-cost flights or low-cost airlines. “The opening of this route is very appropriate as the post-pandemic South Korean tourist market coming to Bali is among the top 10 highest foreign tourists,” said I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport General Manager Ahmad Syaugi Shahab.
Ahmad Syaugi explained that the decision of the South Korean airline to operate at Ngurah Rai Airport was right because of the high interest of foreign tourists from that country. South Korean tourists ranked seventh in 2023, with a total of 236,030 tourists landing in Bali.
In the third quarter of 2024, the total number of South Korean foreigners served by I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Bali rose two ranks to the fifth highest position with 220,033 people.
The number of South Korean foreigners arriving through I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Bali during 2024 was 64.7 thousand people in the first quarter, 66 thousand people in the second quarter, and the highest in the third quarter was 89 thousand people. Previously, flights to South Korea were operated by Garuda Indonesia, which flew daily, and Korean Air, which flew twice a week.
“With the increasing number of flights to and from Incheon, it will be a stimulus for increasing foreign tourists to Bali, especially from South Korea. I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport currently serves 39 international routes to 19 countries, operated by 41 airlines,” he concluded. [sources/photo special]
