Qantas Boeing 737-800

Qantas Group swoops on additional seat capacity to Indonesia

By Andrew Curran.

The Qantas Group has moved to take advantage of recent changes to the air services agreement between Australia and Indonesia, asking the International Air Services Commission (IASC) to allocate it an extra 4,539 seats per week in each direction. It will deploy the additional capacity on three new routes and increase frequencies on an existing route.

In a September 30 letter to the IASC, Megan Morris, Head of Group International Regulatory Affairs at Qantas Group, says the airline wants the extra seats to start flights between Brisbane (BNE) and Denpasar (DPS); Western Sydney (WSI) and Denpasar; and Perth (PER) and Jakarta (CGK); as well as increase its four-weekly Melbourne (MEL) – Jakarta services to daily round-trips.

Updated air services agreement increases weekly seat allocation

In September, the Australian Government announced that an additional 5,000 seats per week would be available to each country’s carriers on the Australia – Indonesia country pair following an update to the air services agreement between the two countries.

While the 5,000-seat figure is widely quoted in government and media statements, the actual increase is 5,000 weekly seats in each direction. This means an additional 10,000 weekly seats on the country pair, or 20,000 seats when the additional allocation to Indonesian airlines is included.

Qantas Group carriers Qantas and Jetstar, as well as Virgin Australia, fly between Australia and Indonesia, primarily between Australia and Denpasar, and were fully utilising the 50,000 weekly seats available under the previous air services agreement.

Indonesian carriers Garuda Indonesia, TransNusa, AirAsia Indonesia and Batik Air Indonesia also operate on the country pair and had their own allocation of 50,000 weekly seats, although they had not reached the ceiling. The Indonesian airlines also receive an additional 10,000 weekly seats under the updated agreement.

New flights to Indonesia from Brisbane, Perth, and Western Sydney

In its application for the extra seats, Qantas said it wants to start daily B737-800-operated flights between Perth and Jakarta in mid-December 2026; daily Jetstar A321-200NX-operated round-trips between Western Sydney and Denpasar in mid-March 2027; increase its four-weekly A330-200-operated flights between Melbourne and Jakarta to daily flights in late March; and start daily B737-800-operated round-trips between Brisbane and Denpasar in early August.

The application also noted that Qantas intends to take the A330-200 off the Melbourne – Jakarta route in late October 2027, instead using an A321-200XLR to operate the flights.

Qantas says it plans to fully utilise the capacity by November 1, 2027, and wants the IASC to allocate the seats to it for at least five years.

“We request that the Commission assess this application against the ‘reasonable capability criterion’ in section 8 of the Minister’s Policy Statement,” the application letter reads. “Qantas and Jetstar are established international carriers and currently operate scheduled international services between Australia and Indonesia.”

Source: Qantas.

Virgin Australia entitled to request more seats to Indonesia

Virgin Australia is also entitled to request some or all the 10,000 additional weekly seats now available. It flies to Denpasar from Brisbane, Coolangatta/Gold Coast (OOL), Sydney and Melbourne. In total, Virgin Australia operates 31 weekly round-trips on the Australia – Indonesia country pair using 182-passenger B737-8s, for a total of 11,284 seats, or 22.6% of the allocation to Australian operators under the previous air services agreement.

Aero South Pacific understands Virgin Australia is considering its options but is yet to make a decision about applying for any extra capacity.

The remainder of the allocation available to Australian airlines is taken up by the Qantas Group. Qantas currently operates daily 271-passenger A330-200 round-trips between Sydney and Jakarta and between Sydney and Denpasar. It also flies five weekly 174-passenger B737-800-operated round-trips between Melbourne and Denpasar and four weekly A330-200-operated round-trips between Melbourne and Jakarta. This equates to 11,496 seats, or 23% of the weekly allocation to Australian operators.

Jetstar dominates the Australia - Indonesia market

Jetstar, which operates many flights between Australia and Denpasar, soaks up the remaining allocation. It flies to Denpasar from 11 Australian airports – soon to be 12 if Western Sydney is added.

Current schedule data shows that Jetstar operates:

  • Four weekly A320-200-operated round-trips between Adelaide and Denpasar.
  • Five weekly A321-200NX-operated round-trips between Avalon (AVV) and Denpasar.
  • Eleven weekly A321-200NX-operated round-trips between Brisbane and Denpasar.
  • Four weekly A320-200-operated round-trips between Cairns (CNS) and Denpasar.
  • Four weekly A321-200NX-operated round-trips between Darwin (DRW) and Denpasar.
  • Three weekly A320-200-operated round-trips between Coolangatta/Gold Coast (OOL) and Denpasar.
  • Three weekly A321-200NX-operated round-trips between Maroochydore/Sunshine Coast (MCY) and Denpasar.
  • Twenty-three weekly A321-200NX-operated round-trips between Melbourne and Denpasar.
  • Four weekly A321-200NX-operated round-trips between Newcastle Williamtown (NTL) and Denpasar.
  • Twenty weekly A321-200NX-operated round-trips between Perth (PER) and Denpasar.
  • Fourteen weekly A321-200NX-operated round-trips between Sydney and Denpasar.

All up, Jetstar is operating 95 weekly round-trips between Australia and Denpasar. Morris says the additional requested flights will “strengthen connectivity between Australia and Indonesia”.

You can read Qantas' IASC application here.

Photo: Qantas.
Contact the writer: andrew@aerosouthpacific.com

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