Qantas and Jetstar Airways plan to launch three new routes to Indonesia and increase Melbourne-Jakarta frequencies after Australia and Indonesia expanded their bilateral air services arrangements.
The airlines have jointly applied to Australia's International Air Services Commission (IASC) for 4,539 Australia-Indonesia seats per week in each direction for five years. The application is equivalent to 90.8% of the additional 5,000 weekly seats made available to airlines from the countries under an updated memorandum of understanding signed in September.
Qantas wants to add a daily Perth Airport-Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) route from Dec. 14, using a 165-seat Boeing 737-800. Jetstar would follow on March 15, 2027, with daily flights between Western Sydney International Airport and Bali's Denpasar International Airport (DPS). The route would use a 232-seat Airbus A321LR and provide the new Sydney airport with a direct link to Indonesia.
Qantas also plans to increase Melbourne Airport-CGK from its present schedule to 4X-weekly from March 28, 2027, using 247-seat A330-200s. Service would become daily from Oct. 31, 2027, when the airline intends to deploy 194-seat A321XLRs.
A fourth proposal would add daily Brisbane Airport-DPS flights from Aug. 1, 2027, using 737-800s.
Sabre Market Intelligence data shows approximately 4.31 million two-way O&D passengers traveled between Australia and Indonesia in 2025, up 6.4% from a year earlier. Denpasar accounted for about 3.69 million passengers, or 85.7% of the total, while Jakarta attracted approximately 465,600.
Qantas Group already has a leading position in the market. Before the proposed additions, OAG Schedules Analyser data shows Qantas and Jetstar are scheduled to provide approximately 1.23 million two-way seats during the northern winter 2026-27 season, representing 51.5% of total Australia-Indonesia capacity. Jetstar accounts for almost 1.02 million seats, making it the largest airline in the market. Indonesia AirAsia ranks second with about 247,000, followed by Virgin Australia with 242,100. Qantas provides approximately 211,400 seats.
Overall market capacity is currently scheduled to decline 1.1% year-over-year to 2.39 million seats this northern winter. More than 90% is concentrated on routes to DPS.
The updated bilateral also permits services to additional Indonesian destinations beyond Jakarta and Denpasar, including gateways serving Lake Toba, Borobudur, Mandalika, Komodo and Likupang.
“This is our first updated bilateral arrangement with Indonesia in 15 years,” said Catherine King, Australia’s infrastructure, transport, regional development and local government minister.
IASC is inviting competing applications for the additional capacity through Oct. 19.
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