With travel to Bali booming, Jetstar has announced it will upgrade flights between the Northern Territory and the Indonesian province from its A320 plane to the newest aircraft in its fleet, the A321neo, from 2 August this year.
The upgraded service will add more than 2,200 seats between Darwin and Bali between August and October, with one-way fares starting from $163.
Currently, Jetstar carries up to 90,000 passengers every year between the NT capital and Denpasar, where travellers can connect to other destinations in Asia and beyond on Jetstar Asia, codeshare and interline partners.
Domestically, Jetstar will also upgauge its Darwin-Adelaide service to the larger A321neo aircraft from 2 August.
In a further boost to NT operations, the low-cost carrier will upgrade Darwin-Melbourne services from its A320 jet to the larger A321ceo aircraft from 3 July, as well as increase weekly services between Sydney, Brisbane and Adelaide to Darwin and Sydney to Uluru “during periods of higher demand”.
Jetstar will add some 22,000 extra seats on the Sydney-Uluru route with two more flights per week.
All of the changes are expected to take place between April and October 2024.
In total, the Qantas Group airline will add 54,000 seats annually to and from the NT – a double-digit (12 per cent) increase on current services.
“We’re ready to take off more in 2024 to and from Darwin and Uluru,” Jetstar Executive Manager, Customer Jenn Armor said.
“Adding more than 52,000 low fares seats between the NT and four Australian capitals and Bali will give Territorians greater choice and travel options over coming months.
“We’re incredibly excited to be flying the newest aircraft in our fleet, the Airbus A321neo LR, on the popular Darwin to Adelaide and Bali routes from August.
“Bali is an international gateway through which Territorians can access Jetstar’s extensive network across Asia and jump onto Qantas, codeshare and interline partners to the Middle East, Europe, the UK and beyond.”
On 26 March, Jetstar will launch the first-ever, direct Sydney to Busselton-Margaret River route to operate three times a week alongside the existing non-stop Melbourne service.
Jetstar crews in Australia, New Zealand and Japan will have a long-overdue glow-up with a brand-new uniform collection.