Strategic Airlines has lodged an application with the International Air Services Commission (IASC) seeking an allocation of unlimited capacity on the Indonesia route to allow it to launch flights from Karratha and Port Hedland to Denpasar (Bali).
In its application to the IASC, Strategic says that it intends to operate the services from August 2010 utilising a 156-seat Airbus A320. Strategic already operates a three times weekly service between Perth and Denpasar with an A320 utilising rights it acquired from the administrators of OzJet Airlines last year.
Currently, the IASC’s register of available capacity shows that there are no additional seats available under the Indonesia-Australia bilateral air services agreement, but the agreement does allow for unlimited capacity to and from cities other than Perth, Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. As such, it appears that the IASC will grant the allocation unless it can be shown that it is not in the public interest.
If Strategic is granted the capacity, it will be the first Australian airline to operate a scheduled service to Denpasar from Karratha and Port Hedland. Skywest currently operates a weekend service from Broome to Denpasar via Port Hedland as a charter service with a 100-seat Fokker 100.
