Emirates’ flagship A380 made a landmark touchdown at Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport this week when it became the first-ever scheduled A380 service to Indonesia.
Emirates’ flight EK368 left Dubai at 0310 and arrived in Bali at 1620. The return flight, EK369, departed Denpasar at 1940 and arrived back in Dubai at 0045.
The world’s largest passenger aircraft was welcomed with a water cannon salute in Bali and several ministerial and airline bigwigs in attendance.
Emirates’ inaugural A380 flight to Bali was operated by a three-class aircraft, providing passengers, VIP delegations, as well as airport officials a closer look at the double-decker’s products, including its award-winning first-class suites.
The airline will continue its A380 operations in Bali with a two-class A380 aircraft, offering 58 lie-flat seats in business class and 557 seats in economy class.
The airline’s second daily flight to Denpasar will be on Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Emirates launched a nonstop daily service from Dubai to Bali in 2015, adding to its scheduled flights to Jakarta which began in 1992.
The airline currently serves Indonesia with 28 weekly flights to both Bali and Jakarta and offers increased connectivity to 29 more domestic cities via the two gateways through its partnership agreements with both Garuda Indonesia and Batik Air.
The Emirates A380 is currently deployed to 46 destinations, including Dubai, and is likely to expand to nearly 50 destinations by the end of the summer.
“We are extremely excited that our iconic A380 aircraft has arrived in Bali. This has been the result of months of careful planning and execution.
We look forward to offering our A380’s best-in-class services to our valued customers flying to and from Denpasar, while simultaneously serving the increased demand for international travel with the Superjumbo being one of two daily services to the island,” commented Emirates senior vice president commercial operations Far East, Orhan Abbas.
