In Reply to: Air Asia Darwin question posted by sonny on Wednesday, 14. July 2010 at 07:27 Bali Time:
I also noticed Darwin appear on the new Airasia website but with no destination yet. I also found a news article from Bisnis Indonesia Online dates 12 July which indicates Airasia will commence at least 4 times weekly services DPS-DRW return from October this year. A Google translation follows:
AirAsia soon open the route Denpasar-Darwin
By: Hendra Wibawa
JAKARTA (Bisnis.com): Airlines Indonesia AirAsia (IAA), soon to open a direct flight route Denpasar-Darwin, Australia from October 2010 to take over the abandoned route of Garuda Indonesia.
IAA President Dharmadi said opening the route will be served at least four times per week with Airbus A320 aircraft with a capacity of 180 seats.
"With the A320 we will terbangi Denpasar-Darwin began in October of this year," he said today.
He says it chose the route Denpasar-Darwin for the A320 aircraft can be flown. Denpasar-Darwin route has a travel time of two hours while the plane can fly nonstop five hours.
Until now, Dharmadi explains that he is opening process Denpasar-Darwin route to the Indonesian civil aviation authorities and the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) of Australia after successfully serving the Denpasar-Perth route.
"In addition to Garuda, Indonesia AirAsia is the airline that was allowed into Australia. We have the right to fly to Darwin," he said.
He continued opening of Denpasar-Darwin flight service will position the airline to compete directly with Australian airline Jetstar is to serve the route with A320 aircraft.
So far, Dharmadi explain Denpasar-Perth route is serviced twice per day recorded a level plane field (load factor) above 90% with mostly Australian tourists.
Until the end of this year, the IAA plans to replace the entire A320 aircraft by aircraft type with a target to transport 4 million passengers this year.
Dharmadi explain his side will operate 14 aircraft from the A320 is currently only 11 aircraft. Three A320 aircraft will come in September and November. Last year, the airline 49% owned by AirAsia Berhad of Malaysia managed to carry 3.5 million people.