Indonesia by plane
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Beware the departure tax
Travellers departing on international flights have to pay a departure tax in rupiah, so be sure to stash away enough to pay it. The amount varies by airport, but can be as much as Rp 150,000 in Bali.
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The three main international airports are Soekarno-Hatta (CGK) at Tangerang, Banten, near Jakarta, Ngurah Rai (DPS) at Denpasar, Bali and Juanda (SUB) at Surabaya, East Java. There are however many cities which have air links with Singapore and Malaysia which can be interesting and convenient entry points into Indonesia.
Garuda Indonesia , the Indonesian 'flag' airline operates to Asian destinations including China, Japan and Korea, Australian cities, Middle Eastern destinations such Saudi Arabia and Dubai in the UAE and has recommenced services to Amsterdam in the Netherlands. The airline also has extensive code sharing agreements and this assists in providing quite good flight frequencies from airports in countries nearby to Indonesia. While its fleet still has some tatty aircraft is is improved greatly by a significant fleet upgrade programme utilising 45 new Boeing 738-800NG series and 11 Airbus A330 aircraft for higher capacity routes. They also have new Boeing 777-300ER series aircraft on order and are a fairly safe and often a cheap option. While banned from the EU for a while, the ban was lifted in 2009 and they have made direct flights to Europe since third quarter of 2010.
Travel to Indonesia from America costs around US$1,000. As travel from most of Europe or anywhere in the USA will take over 20 hr, many flights stop in Hong Kong, Seoul, Taipei or Singapore before arriving in Jakarta. Sydney, though, is just 6-8 hr away.
The cost of flying to Indonesia from within the Southeast Asia and Pacific region has gone down a lot with the advent of low cost carriers or LCC. A similar and important development has been the offering of reasonably priced one-way fares departing Indonesia and the development of online booking and payment systems. The acceptance of non-Indonesian issued credit cards by the online booking systems of Garuda and Lion air only occurred as recently as the beginning of 2011. Among the LCC carriers providing services to Indonesia are AirAsia , which has excellent coverage of Indonesia from its hubs in Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta (Indonesia Air Asia), as well as Singaporean competitors Tiger Airways , Jetstar Asia/Valuair and SilkAir . SilkAir is actually a full-service, full-fare regional airline, but they often have very good promotions if you book in advance. Indonesian carrier LionAir provides a link between Singapore and Jakarta, and is often the cheapest option (cheaper than AirAsia and others) if you need to travel really soon or even on the same day. Australia and New Zealand are also serviced by LCC airlines including Jetstar sharing the Jetstar Asia network, Virgin Australia , Indonesia AIr Asia and a new low cost but full service entrant Strategic airlines , based in Australia. Limited regional international services are also provided by other Indonesian LCC domestic carriers Merpati Airlines and Batavia airlines . Batavia is steadily growing a limited regional international route system and Merpati services routes to Kuala Lumpur and Dili in East Timor. It is worthy of note that Lion Air has engaged in a massive fleet upgrade program buying a large number of Boeing 739-900ER series and ATR72-500 series turbo props. The steady replacement of their previously rather clunky old fleet of very well used Boeing and MD aircraft is revitalising Indonesia's 2nd largest carrier. Lion air currently operate 45 new 737-900ERs with 134 more on order.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Indonesia
