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New Year and New Routes: Garuda Announces New China Charter Flights to Bali
19 January 2017 | Written by Chris Alexander

With Chinese New Year just around the corner, Garuda Indonesia has announced it will open new flights to five cities in China starting this month.

The new services will connect Denpasar in Bali to Chengdu, Shenzhen, Kunming, Chongqing and Xiamen, according to a statement made this week by Micky Irfandi, General Manager of Garuda Indonesia’s Denpasar branch.

Each route will be open three times per week and will use the Airbus A330, which has a 360 seating capacity.

Garuda intends to use demand over upcoming New Year period as a trial for the new routes, which if successful, could become a permanent feature in the airline’s schedule.

“We need to conduct an evaluation before launching the regular flight service,” said Micky. Garuda Indonesia already offers regular flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong.

Bali has long been a popular destination for Chinese tourists. According to the Bali Central Statistics Agency (BPS), 907,028 Chinese nationals visited the island between January and November in 2016; more than a 20 percent increase on the previous year’s arrivals. Chinese citizens are second only to Australians as the most frequent visitors to Bali.

Garuda’s new routes connecting Denpasar to five major cities in China will bring further business to Bali and add some extra flavor to the festivities over Chinese New Year.