The first Jetstar flight from Melbourne to Bali in almost two years will take off this morning, taking almost 300 Australians to the Indonesian holiday destination.
Flight JQ43 will take off from Melbourne at 9.55am this morning, with the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner arriving at 12.45pm local time.
Many of the passengers on board would have taken advantage of Jetstar’s recent Un-Bali-Vable sale with $99 one-way flights. When Jetstar launched this sale, it sold the highest number of seats to Bali on a single day in five years.
Jetstar will initially just operate three flights per week from Melbourne to Bali, but plans to gradually increase services as demand increases. It is currently selling flights from Perth and Sydney to Bali from April, with plans to resume services from Brisbane, Adelaide, Darwin and Cairns from May. However, cancellations are possible if the Indonesian government hasn’t yet further relaxed entry requirements by then.
Last month, Jetstar was planning to also resume Sydney-Denpasar flights from 15 March but all flights on this route have since been removed from sale until at least the end of March.
Qantas also announced last month that its Sydney-Denpasar flights would resume at the end of March, but Qantas has recently “zeroed out” all its planned Sydney-Denpasar flights for April. This means these flights are very likely to be cancelled but customers have not yet been informed of this and cannot yet access a refund.
Garuda Indonesia is currently operating only a limited schedule on the Sydney-Denpasar and Sydney-Jakarta routes.
Bali has been hit hard by COVID-19
The Balinese economy is normally heavily reliant on tourism, so it has been hit hard by COVID-19. Prior to the pandemic, more than a million Australians visited Bali each year.
“Today is an important milestone for us at Jetstar, and also for the local businesses in Bali who have been heavily impacted by the lack of tourism during the pandemic,” Jetstar CEO Gareth Evans said.
“Pre-COVID, Jetstar operated up to 85 return flights per week to Bali, carrying more than two million customers each year and contributing almost two billion Australian dollars annually to the local Balinese economy.”
Current entry requirements for Indonesia
Indonesia is now open to tourists, but there are still some entry requirements in place. Travellers from Australia would need a total of five COVID-19 tests to travel to Indonesia and back. Travellers must also book an approved hotel for the first four nights of their stay in Bali.
As of the time of writing, the current requirements to enter Bali include:
- PCR test taken within 48 hours before departure from Australia
- Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination
- Purchase travel insurance with at least USD25,000 coverage for COVID-19
- Get a visa on arrival
- PCR test after arrival in Bali
- Book an approved CHSE hotel for at least 4 nights after arrival
- Another PCR test the day before exiting hotel quarantine (day 3 after arrival – this can be arranged through the hotel)
You would also need to comply with all Australian government requirements, including pre-departure and post-arrival COVID-19 testing, to return to Australia.
Compared to other holiday destinations like Fiji, the Philippines or even Singapore, these requirements are onerous and add significantly to the cost of a holiday in Bali. But this is at least a first step in the right direction.
The entry requirements for travel to other parts of Indonesia are different to those of Bali. Tourists arriving in Jakarta or elsewhere only need to quarantine on arrival for 1 night.
The quarantine-free travel to Bali is currently being trialled until the end of March. All going well, the requirements will be further relaxed from April.
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