Beijing (ANTARA News) - Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia is planning to start a direct flight between Shanghai, China, and Denpasar, Bali, on January 13.

"The non-stop flight between Shanghai and Denpasar will operate twice e a week using an Airbus-330 aircraft," Vice President of Garuda Indonesia for China Region I, I Wayan Subagja, in Beijing, on Tuesday.

As Bali is the favorite destination for Chinese tourists visiting Indonesia, hence Garuda will continue to increase the number of direct flights to Bali through regular and unscheduled flights.

Garuda Indonesia also provides regular flights on the Beijing-Jakarta route that operate thrice a week and seven weekly flights each on the Shanghai-Jakarta and Guangzhou-Jakarta routes.

Since January 2013, the national flag carrier has been operating four non-stop weekly flights on the Beijing-Denpasar route and has also added a new flight on the Guangzhou-Denpasar route at the end of 2015.

Moreover, Garuda facilitates unscheduled flights for people from eleven Chinese cities who plan on visiting Bali for the Chinese New Year and summer holidays.

"They still have huge interest to visit Bali due to which Garuda has tried to provide ease and comfort to tourists who want to visit Bali. We also promote other destinations in Indonesia," Subagja emphasized.

The opening of flights between several cities in Tiongkok and Bali is expected to support an increase in the number of Chinese tourists to Indonesia, which is targeted to reach ten million people in the next five years since 2015.

Editor: Ade P Marboen
Copyright © ANTARA 2016