Indonesia AirAsia Extra starts direct Melbourne to Bali flights

Indonesia AirAsia Extra (IAX) will start flying direct from Melbourne to Bali.

The AirAsia Group already flies direct from Perth to Bali through AirAsia Indonesia and will start flights from Melbourne using its low-cost, long-haul affiliate carrier IAX.

A total of 826,000 Australians travelled directly to Bali last year and the airline says the new service aims to further increase the linkages and ties between Indonesia and Australia.

Even in the current environment where airlines are struggling, AirAsia is confident the five flights a week between Melbourne and Bali will be a success.
"One of the key reasons we've selected Bali as a hub is because of the short haul AirAsia connectivity for AirAsia Indonesia based air," AirAsia Extra CEO Azran Osman-Rani told the launch in Melbourne on Monday.
"This basically means they'll be a lot of connecting flights to big cities. "Some may even be interested to connect all the way from Melbourne to Tasmania," he joked.

The six hour and 10 minute flight will take off from December 26. IAX is offering an introductory one-way fare of $99, on sale from Tuesday until Sunday. (Yahootravel)