In a milestone event for the Australian airline and also for the Queensland Gold Coast region, Virgin Australia has become the first airline to offer Bali flights from the Gold Coast Airport.
New holiday connection
Virgin Australia has now completed the first-ever Gold Coast to Bali flight, providing a new connection between the two iconic holiday destinations. Unsurprisingly the inauguration of the new service has been met with strong interest.
The route, which is one of the airline’s most highly anticipated new short-haul international services, has resulted in strong demand from holidaymakers since it was announced in June last year, with particularly high demand through Easter and summer holiday periods.
Virgin Australia is currently operating the highest number of domestic flights through Gold Coast Airport of any Australian carrier, with April capacity through Gold Coast Airport expected to reach 142 per cent of pre-COVID levels.
Virgin Australia statement
Virgin Australia Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer, Alistair Hartley said the new services will provide guests with greater convenience, choice and value for their next Bali holiday, a destination many Australians love.
“Until now, services between Gold Coast and Bali have never been operated by any commercial airline, making this another milestone for Virgin Australia and our guests,” he said.
“Virgin Australia is committed to providing the best value airfares to Bali, and that’s evident with our Gold Coast-Bali sale which is offering fares from as low as $419* return, which we expect will be extremely popular.
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“We are incredibly excited to see this service take off, representing the latest step in growing our international footprint, which consists of over 500 destinations around the world through Virgin Australia and our partner airlines.”
Mr Hartley said Bali services were in high demand across the Virgin Australia network.
“Bali is an incredibly popular destination for us, and we now operate more than 40 services a week between Bali and Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide and the Gold Coast,” he said.
“It is clear Australians want to get out and travel and have a wonderful experience along the way. The expansion of the Virgin Australia network to include direct flights between the Gold Coast and Bali reflects this.”
Queensland airports statement
Queensland Airports Limited Chief Commercial Officer, Adam Rowe said the direct link would make it much easier for locals wanting to holiday in Bali.
“This new connection makes Bali holidays quicker and easier for Gold Coast and Northern NSW locals, removing the need for connecting flights, or long trips up the motorway,” he said.
“We expect the service will be particularly popular for those planning surfing or wellness retreats.”
Summary
The new route to the ever popular Indonesian island holiday destination follows a similar boosting of Bali services by other airlines in recent times.
Internationally, other carriers which have taken up services include Air New Zealand’s recent Bali service resumption, and the move by Emirates to operate its flagship A380 on Bali services.
The Virgin Australia inaugural flight was celebrated with Gold Coast’s first-ever Bintang Yoga session at the departure gate at Gold Coast International Airport – playfully combining two things Bali is famous for!
Virgin Australia will operate daily services between the Gold Coast and Bali during school holiday periods, with four return services a week in off-peak periods, aligned to customer demand.
Virgin Australia continues to grow its short-haul international network, operating services to Queenstown, Samoa, Fiji, Vanuatu (from 31 March 2023) and the soon-to-be launched flights between Cairns and Tokyo, taking off from 28 June 2023.
New short haul international services will see Virgin Australia grow its international capacity by 50 per cent from FY23 to FY24.
