LONDON – Australia’s Melbournians will soon be able to fly directly to the Indonesian capital of Jakarta with national flag carrier Qantas, according to executivetraveller.com.
The Indonesian capital will soon receive an extra direct connection between two major Australian cities, with the first being from Sydney.
Indonesia is one of the important markets for Australia as the two nations foster strong, economic and diplomatic ties, promoting much air traffic to flow between the two countries astonishingly.
Qantas expands its portfolio
Qantas is rapidly expanding its network from Melbourne. The route will hopefully commence on a three-times basis as of 16th April 2023 subject to approval.
This will mark Qantas’ third destination from the city of Melbourne since borders reopened. Jakarta will be the third international flight from Melbourne with Delhi and Dallas Fort Worth being the second and the first.
Schedule
The new flight to Jakarta will carry flight number QF39 from Melbourne. The flight will take off from Melbourne Tullamarine at 3:10PM every Sunday, Wednesday and Friday before arriving at Jakarta Soekarna International Airport at 7:15 PM.
For the return leg, the aircraft will perform a quick turnaround as flight QF40 back to Melbourne, departing on the same three days at 9:00 pm, arriving at 6:40am the following morning.
The distance between Melbourne and Jakarta is approximately 3,200 nautical miles, which makes the flight time just over 7 hours. Passengers will get to enjoy one of the airline’s backbone fleets of the Airbus A330.
Business class passengers will be able to enjoy 180 degrees lie-flat bed, with a chance to indulge in the airline’s award-winning culinary experience.
For economy class, passengers will prefer the 2-3-2 seating configuration over the 3-3-3 configuration found on Qantas’s flagship Boeing 787.
The A330 could be found on the already existing Sydney to Seoul and Sydney to Bangkok service. Passengers will also get to experience Qantas’s rich selection of movies and music.
Stiff competition?
This may be cause for celebration for some loyal Oneworld or Qantas fliers, but the Australian flag carrier may not have it that easy.
Garuda Indonesia, the Indonesian flag carrier will also be connecting Jakarta and Melbourne as GA717, flying twice weekly on a Sunday and a Thursday, both departing at 9:10 am, and arriving at 12:15 pm respectively.
One might say timing-wise, the Indonesian carrier could have a slight advantage as the flight takes off in the early morning with an afternoon arrival, to allow passengers to avoid the peak hour traffic which is notorious.
This flight scheduling would also allow passengers to be well rested on that day upon arrival.
Citing from executivetravellers.com, Qantas Domestic and International CEO Andrew David stated: “As one of Australia’s closest neighbours, these new flights will also help support the growing trade and investment links between our two countries,”
MR David also thanked the Victorian Government and Melbourne Airport for their assistance on the new route.
CEO Andrew David banks highly on the Victorian capital as the city is growing in population of expats and students from Indonesia and Asia in general. Melbourne is one of the nations leading city in terms of economic growth.
