Jetstar is reducing the amount of Business Class seats available on its flights to Bali by almost 90%, as it replaces its Boeing 787s with Economy-only Airbus A321neo LR aircraft.

Until recently, Jetstar operated 28 weekly Boeing 787 services between Australia and Denpasar. This included two daily Melbourne-Bali flights, a daily Sydney-Bali and a daily Brisbane-Bali flight.

But Jetstar is now only operating Boeing 787 Dreamliners on 17 weekly flights to Bali – eleven fewer return flights per week. From next year, that number will reduce to just three flights per week.

With these changes, the number of weekly Jetstar Business Class seats available for sale in each direction between Australia and Indonesia has already reduced from 532 to 323. It will gradually reduce further to just 57 seats per week by April next year.

Business Class airfares to Bali likely to increase

In the meantime, Qantas continues to operate Boeing 737s with just 12 Business Class seats to Bali. And Virgin Australia offers just 8 Business Class seats per flight to Bali. Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air Malaysia also offer Business Class between Australia and Bali.

With Jetstar removing such a large number of Business Class seats from the market, the reduced supply could inevitably push up the cost of Business Class airfares from Australia to Bali across all airlines.

Admittedly, Jetstar’s Business Class product is closer to “Premium Economy” as Jetstar does not offer lie-flat beds up the front. Then again, none of the airlines flying from Australia to Bali currently offer lie-flat beds except for Garuda Indonesia.

The introduction of Jetstar’s Airbus A321neo LR on Bali routes

Jetstar took delivery of its first new Airbus A321neo LR aircraft in late 2022. Earlier this year, the new aircraft type was deployed onto the Melbourne-Bali route. Jetstar has now replaced one of its daily Boeing 787 Melbourne-Bali services with eleven weekly A321neo LR flights.

The Airbus A321neo LR is quieter and more fuel efficient than the older-generation Airbus A321. It also has a longer range, making it viable for Jetstar to fly from Australia’s east coast to Bali.

The Jetstar A321neo LR has 232 Economy Class seats and no Business Class seats. That’s compared to 314 Economy Class and 21 Business Class seats on the larger Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. (As two Business seats are reserved for crew rest on Jetstar international 787 flights, the number of Business Class seats sold per flight is 19.)

Although the A321neo LR has fewer seats, Jetstar is using these aircraft to increase frequency on its routes from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane to Bali. For example, instead of one daily Boeing 787 flight, Jetstar now has 3x weekly Boeing 787 and 11x weekly Airbus A321neo LR services on the Sydney-Denpasar route.

This means that there are more seats overall. Customers also now have a choice of different flight times – including a new daytime service from Bali back to Sydney. In many ways, that’s an improvement.

The introduction of the new narrow-body Airbus jets onto Bali routes also means that Jetstar can re-allocate its Boeing 787s onto other new international routes such as Sydney-Seoul, Brisbane-Seoul and Brisbane-Osaka.

From a passenger comfort perspective, the A321neo LR Economy Class cabin is not bad. It has large overhead lockers, power outlets at every seat and wider Economy seats than the Dreamliner, although the seat pitch is slightly less.

Jetstar continues to use Airbus A320s without Business Class seating on its routes from Perth, Adelaide, Darwin and Cairns to Bali.

Jetstar has seen huge demand for flights to Bali over the past year. In the year following the reopening of Indonesia’s international border in 2022, Jetstar carried 1.1 million passengers between Australia and the Indonesian island.

Upcoming changes to Jetstar’s Bali schedules

Jetstar will maintain its current Sydney-Denpasar schedule with 3x weekly Boeing 787 services (JQ37/38 on Tuesdays, Thursdays & Sundays), supplemented by 11x weekly A321neo LR services, for the foreseeable future.

The Brisbane-Denpasar route will switch from a daily Boeing 787 to 10x weekly Airbus A321neo LRs from 1 February 2024.

The Melbourne-Denpasar route will continue to get a daily Boeing 787 service (flight numbers JQ43/44) and 11x weekly A321neo LRs until 30 March 2024. From 31 March next year, Jetstar will remove the Dreamliner from this route entirely and instead run three daily A321neo LR services.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.