Australian Airlines to add services to Bali

Australian Airlines to add services to Bali

Agence France-Presse, Sydney

Fledgling carrier Australian Airlines demonstrated faith on
Tuesday that Bali will bounce back as Australia's preferred
holiday destination by announcing plans to increase flights to
Denpasar.

It will also increase its fleet to six with the addition of
two Boeing 767-300s, enabling it to increase its services to the
Indonesian resort island from Sydney and Melbourne.

Australian Airlines, launched last October as a discount
offshoot of national flag carrier Qantas Airways Ltd., said by
late July it would operate three services a week between Bali and
Sydney and one a week between Bali and Melbourne.

"Following recent discussions with Indonesian and Balinese
government representatives on ways in which the Qantas group can
assist the recovery of Bali's tourism industry, we have decided
that the time is right to add Denpasar to our schedule,"
Australian Airlines chief executive Denis Adams said in a
statement.

Bali's tourism industry, which was dependent to a large extent
on Australians, remains in deep depression in the aftermath of
last October's terrorist bombings which claimed more than 190
lives, including 88 Australians.

The airline also plans to commence return international
services between Cairns and Sydney six times a week from the
middle of the year,

"These flights will enable us to offer seamless transits at
Cairns International Airport for our inbound passengers
traveling from Asia and Japan," Adams said.

Australian is currently operating 30 flights a week between
Cairns and six Asian destinations as well as connecting services
for international passengers between Cairns and the Gold Coast.

The airline is in preliminary discussions with Sabah
authorities and may commence services from Cairns to Kota
Kinabalu and then on to Singapore.

Australian is also considering services between Cairns and
Shanghai from October this year. Qantas withdrew from China
services in 2001.

It says the response to services have been extremely positive
since Australian was launched in October last year.

Full details and Bali schedules are expected to be announced
by the end of the month.