In yet another baffling decision that is set to undermine Bali’s long and painful recovery from terrorist activity and natural disaster, the national airline, Garuda Indonesia, is withdrawing some services from Australia, and is hinting that the cuts may not stop with the “temporary” suspension of a Denpasar-Brisbane service.
Garuda officials have said that two of the three weekly frequencies to Brisbane (extending to Auckland) will be suspended in the short-term as part of a “broader rescheduling of services” in Asia and the South West Pacific (SWP).
That “broader rescheduling” could mean that Garuda will drop Denpasar as a hub altogether and route most flights via Jakarta.
Garuda Indonesia’s regional manager SWP, Suranto Yitnopawiro, said the temporary suspension of Brisbane services is being undertaken to allow the airline to service the high demand on the seasonal Hajj routes and to facilitate the scheduled maintenance of the Airbus A330 in the GA fleet.
What makes this decision quite incredible is that only in the last few days has agreement been reached to launch a new Bali promotion campaign with Australian wholesalers.
As has been extensively reported in TravelWeekly, it took months of delicate negotiations for Bali tourism leaders to reach agreement with central government in Jakarta which had promised $US7 million to boost marketing and promotion in Bali’s core overseas markets.
In a complicated scenario, the company charged with driving the new Bali campaign in Australia, must first do the work, collect the accounts and then send them back to Jakarta for payment.
On the strength of this promise, Australia’s biggest wholesalers – Flight Centre. Harvey World Travel, Travelscene American Express and Jetset Travelworld – agreed to contribute to the new campaign being coordinated by Indo Multi Media.
Some of these travel companies were reluctant to take part, given that several Australian agents lost a lot of money when Air Paradise collapsed last year.
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