So Bali's tourism figures for '07 have been released and we note that over 200,000 visitors came ex Australia. At 86,000 more visitors than the previous yeaqr, that's a 57% improvement on passenger numbers in just 12 months: clearly well on its way back to the expected mid 200's of the pre-bomb days.
By any measurement this is a staggering improvement. Unless, it seems, you are a Garuda, Qantas or Jetstar airline executive responsible for route allocation.
To them, it appears such growth is basically empirical proof that demand is insufficent to support even a modest direct link out of Adelaide, Brisbane or New Zealand.
To a point I can understand Jetstar and Qantas leaving the status quo, as it fuels domestic seat sales into Melbourne, Sydeny and Perth. But Garuda has the potential to capture a significant percentage of Bali-bound seats out of those three ports simply by reinstating a direct link - however modest.
Whether Qantas and Jetstar would reinstate theirs, in response, would simply be a numbers game in terms of which option has the best yield for them.