Qantas will resume flying its own red-tailed aircraft to Bali this year, albeit only on a seasonal basis, to tap into the premium travel market for holiday-makers.
The Boeing 737s will run between Sydney and Denpasar four times a week from 4 December 2015 to 29 January 2016, supplementing Jetstar’s all-Boeing 787 flights.
Qantas is spruiking the flights as a “full service, premium travel option direct to Bali" with inclusions of checked baggage, inflight entertainment and food and drinks as key differentiators against the cheaper Jetstar fares, which begin with a seat and nothing else.
Business class travellers on the route will see “a Rockpool-designed menu served on Marc Newson tableware" plus inflight Kate Spade and Jack Spade amenity kits containing Aurora Spa products.
Flight QF43 will depart Sydney at 5.10pm every Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, reaching Denpasar at 8.50pm.
The Boeing 737 will then turn around to fly out of Denpasar at 10.40pm as flight QF44, touching down into Sydney at 7.40am the next day.
Tickets are now on sale, with business class return fares from $1,933 and economy from $733.
“We know how attractive Bali is as a holiday destination, so through efficient use of our aircraft, we’ve unlocked more domestic Boeing 737 flying time" commented Qantas International CEO Gareth Evans.
“It means we can give customers more choice and cater for the spikes in demand we see over the summer peak."
Virgin Australia continues to run direct flights between Sydney and Bali, although its all-economy Tigerair will take over services from Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth to Denpasar from 23 March 2016.
