Ngurah Rai Airport Reopens Kinabalu Route After 8 Years

BADUNG - I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport again serves the Denpasar-Kota Kinabalu route, after the route that connects Bali with the Sabah area, Malaysia, was not served for 8 years.

"Previously, the last direct flight route for Kota Kinabalu operated at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport in 2016 by Indonesian Air Asia airlines," said General Manager of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport Handy Heryudhitiawan, Friday, August 9.

He said that now the route was reopened by the same airline, so that through the airport in South Bali, the connecting route with Malaysia is no longer only through Kuala Lumpur.

Handy noted that on his inaugural flight, 119 passengers from Bali were escorted to Kinabalu City International Airport with flight number QZ 590 using the Airbus A320 aircraft type at 16:30 WITA.

The plane then returned to I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport with flight number QZ 591 at 19:10 local time.

"This flight will operate three times a week, namely on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays," said Handy.

The airport sees this route as potential, because Malaysia is one of the busiest routes throughout 2024.

From and to Kuala Lumpur alone, it has served 1,054,970 passengers in 7 months, besides that, the number of Malaysian foreigners arriving on the island of Bali also reached 140,929 people this year.

"We believe that the increasing connectivity of the island of Bali with Kota Kinabalu will have a positive impact on the two countries, especially in increasing the tourism sector in each destination," said Handy.

"With the natural beauty of the two extraordinary destinations, it is hoped that connectivity between Bali and Kota Kinabalu will encourage the number of foreign tourist arrivals through Malaysian citizens who want to visit Bali, as well as Indonesian tourists who want to explore Kota Kinabalu," he continued.

The reopening of the Kota Kinabalu route adds to the records of I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, which now serves 37 international routes by 39 airlines.

This year alone there are five additional new international routes, namely Pudong, Bengaluru, Canberra, Abu Dhabi, and Kota Kinabalu.