Dubai: Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, will launch its signature A380 aircraft to Bali on June 1, 2023, marking a milestone in Indonesia’s aviation history as the first scheduled A380 service to the country.
The new 2-class Emirates A380 service will replace one of the two daily services to Bali currently operated by a 2-class Boeing 777-300ER aircraft. The airline’s debut A380 flight, EK368, will depart from Dubai International Airport (DXB) at 3:25 AM, arriving in Denpasar International Airport (DPS) at 4:35 PM local time. The returning flight, EK369, will depart Bali at 7:40 PM, arriving in Dubai at 12:45 AM local time.
Mr. Adnan Kazim, Emirates’ Chief Commercial Officer, commented on the deployment of the world’s largest passenger aircraft to Bali, stating, “The Emirates A380 is synonymous with our fly better promise and world-class products and services, and we’re excited to offer our travellers the opportunity to experience its uniqueness and unrivalled beauty on flights to and from Bali. Needless to say that we’ve been working closely with our partners at Bali’s Ngurah Rai International Airport to ensure our A380 operations will be seamless and smooth. We’d like to thank the authorities and our partners for all their support.”
“Bali continues to be one of the most popular tourist destinations in our network and strategic markets in Southeast Asia, and the Emirates A380’s debut in Indonesia underscores our long-standing commitment to its travel and tourism sector. We look forward to increasing inbound traffic to the island while also providing more opportunities for leisure and business travellers to connect to Dubai and beyond to cities across Europe and the Americas via Emirates’ extensive global network,” Mr. Kazim added.
Mr. Faik Fahmi, President Director of PT. Angkasa Pura I, remarked that “the scheduled operations of the Airbus A380 in Indonesia will be a historic moment for Indonesian aviation and Angkasa Pura I. We welcome the Emirates A380 service, which will operate in early June, and are honored to be the first airport operator to receive regular commercial flights of the aircraft in the country. We hope that the A380 operations in Indonesia, particularly in Bali, will have an increasingly positive impact on the tourism and economic sectors, as well as provide more opportunities for cooperation and investment in other industries in Indonesia.”
Emirates launched a non-stop daily service from Dubai to Bali in 2015, adding to its scheduled flights to Jakarta, which began in 1992. The airline has so far operated more than 49,000 flights and carried over 9 million passengers between Indonesia and Dubai. Emirates currently serves Indonesia with 28 weekly flights to both Bali and Jakarta and offers increased connectivity to 29 more domestic cities via the two gateways through its partnership agreements with both Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air.