Vistara has announced the addition of Bali to its network. The airline will commence flights to the highly sought-after tourist destination later this year.
Nonstop to Bali!
Starting 1st December 2023, Vistara will operate a daily nonstop service between Delhi and Bali with the following schedule:
- Delhi-Bali
- Departure time: 00:30
- Arrival time: 11:05
- Flight time: 8 hours and 05 minutes
- Flight number: UK145
- Bali-Delhi
- Departure time: 12:10
- Arrival time: 17:45
- Flight time: 8 hours and 05 minutes
- Flight number: UK146
These flights will be operated by Vistara’s A321LR (Long Range) aircraft featuring 8 lie-flat Business Class seats, 24 Premium Economy seats and 152 standard Economy Class seats.
India is the second-largest source of foreign tourists to Bali, and with hassle-free visa-on-arrival , Bali remains one of the preferred holiday destinations for Indians, besides being popular for MICE traffic. Additionally, as the second largest trading destination for India in the ASEAN region, Indonesia exhibits great potential for business travel as well. We are delighted to be the only airline offering direct connectivity between Dehi and Bali. We are confident that customers will appreciate having the option to travel on India’s finest full service airline on the route.
said Vinod Kannan, Chief Executive Officer, Vistara.
Vistara says that Bali has become an increasingly sought-after holiday destination for Indians due to its accessibility, proximity, and hassle-free visa on arrival facility and that the airline is confident about the route doing well.
The fares for Economy Class roundtrip flights start from INR39,000 (IDR6900999) while the fares for Premium Economy start from INR54999 (IDR13500999). Fares for Business Class start at INR129999 (IDR29000999).
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Strategy getting clearer
This will be the first time in since 2019 that there will nonstop flights available between India and Bali. Vistara will the only carrier offering nonstop flights to Bali from India. Garuda Indonesia last had nonstop flights between Bali and Mumbai between the second half of 2018 and April 2019. It ceased operations due to low load factors.
AirAsia X had also tried entering the market and it did so successfully routing Mumbai-Kuala Lumpur-Bali. The route economics did not work in favour of both the airlines but they might work here for Vistara, given its deploying a small aircraft that is perfect for a market like this (Garuda Indonesia and AirAsia X both deployed their A330 aircraft).
Vistara’s strategy is now getting clearer. While IndiGo is focusing on getting a foothold in the Central Asian markets, Vistara is going where the competition is there. Earlier this year, the airline started flights between Mumbai and Mauritius. Now, the market between India and Mauritius is very large, with the large chunk of travellers being tourists going to either side, along with a small percentage of business travellers. Mumbai has had a nonstop service to Mauritius by Air Mauritius since the last 50 years when Vistara started operating on Mumbai-Mauritius route. The airline launched the route with very odd timings, with a 6 AM departure from Mumbai, enabling connections from the Gulf. But I assume that did not work very well for the airline. It retimed the flights to enable more domestic connections.
Same is applicable for Delhi-Hong Kong route, which the carrier is launching later this month. Delhi is the largest market in India for Hong Kong and Vistara wants a fair share of pie. The airline will also focus on connecting passengers from Europe and vice-versa.
Now, Delhi-Bali is an interesting choice but a natural one. Mumbai-Bali has been a tried and tested market and history says that it is not a very stable market. However, Vistara’s case is different here since it is deploying a comparatively smaller aircraft. Although that is the case, Delhi is the main hub of Vistara and it will obviously look at offering good connections from Europe to Bali and vice-versa in addition to domestic connections.
The timings of the flight are convenient for hotel check-in and check-out for tourists, which make the majority of travellers to Bali. The flight arrives in the evening at Delhi, enabling connections in the last departure bank of domestic flights.
It will be interesting to see how this route works out for Vistara. Will Vistara finally be able to crack the India-Bali market? It all remains to be seen.
Featured image by Twitter/Tobias_Gudat
What do you think of Vistara starting nonstop flights to Bali? Let me know in the comments section below.
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