Garuda Indonesia Plane From Sydney Lands At Ngurah Rai Bali With 47 Foreigners

Bali Governor Wayan Koster and Garuda Managing Director Irfan Setiaputra at Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport/PHOTO: DAFI VOI

BADUNG - A Garuda Indonesia plane on the Sydney-Denpasar route, Bali with 60 passengers arrived at I Gusti Ngurah Airport, Bali.

The arrival of the passengers on direct flights from Sydney, Australia was immediately reviewed by the Governor of Bali, Wayan Koster, and President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (GIAA), Irfan Setiaputra.

Governor Koster said the Garuda Indonesia plane from Sydney flew to Bali carrying 60 passengers consisting of 47 foreign citizens (WNA) and 13 Indonesian citizens (WNI).

"I monitored from arrival to inspection at the hub and the PCR test-taking took place very quickly. And, much faster than what I monitored on February 16 (2022) ago", said Koster at a press conference at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport, Bali, Friday, March 4th.

"Apparently, the SOPs for tourists on arrival are getting a better understanding and can run very smoothly. We have also evaluated this a few days ago regarding the SOPs from departure to arrival at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Airport", he added.

Koster explained that up to now 11 flights directly enter Bali from abroad. The total number of passengers reached 1,916 people, consisting of 1,524 foreigners and 392 Indonesian citizens.

"Out of this 1,916 passengers, only 7 people were positive consisting of 6 foreigners and 1 Indonesian citizen. These 7 positive people were all asymptomatic. If you put 7 people in ratio compared to 1,916 people, only 0.04 percent were positive, so it's very small. This means that the implementation of the health protocol by the passengers is carried out in an orderly and very disciplined manner", said Koster.

Meanwhile, President Director of PT Garuda Indonesia (Persero) Tbk (GIAA), Irfan Setiaputra, said flights to Bali are very important related to the recovery of tourism and the economy.

"Therefore, from the first day we decided to continue to support the efforts made by the Bali Regional Government about developing Bali tourism", he said.