Emirates to fly new daily service from Auckland to Bali and Dubai

Emirates will fly to Bali from New Zealand daily from June. Photo / 123rf

Emirates plans to launch a new daily service from Auckland to Bali and then on to Dubai from June 14.

The airline will use a Boeing 777-300ER on the route and provide competition to Air New Zealand's five-times a week seasonal service to Denpasar. One agent said this increased competition would help push down prices on the route which takes about 9 hours and 20 minutes.

Air New Zealand's will use a Boeing 787 Dreamliner on the route and its flights which start in April are available on Google Flights for $1430 return that month.

''With another carrier flying into Bali and an increase in capacity we are sure this is going to further grow upcoming booking numbers and potentially help drive airfare prices even lower," said House of Travel commercial director Brent Thomas.

President of Emirates Airline Sir Tim Clark said there was strong demand for travel to Bali, and to and from Auckland.

''We are confident that our year-round service between Auckland and Bali will be well received by our customers, not only in New Zealand and Indonesia, but also from our global network, particularly from markets like the UK, Europe and the Middle East.''

Emirates' new Auckland-Bali-Dubai flight will provide the only year-round non-stop daily service between Auckland and Bali, giving passengers an opportunity to visit and/or stop over on the popular Indonesian island.

The Boeing 777-300ER has eight seats in First Class, 42 seats in business class and 304 seats in economy, as well as 20 tonnes of belly-hold cargo capacity.

Emirates will next month pull out of flying across the Tasman from Auckland but the new service would offer New Zealand travellers a total of three daily flights to Dubai and beyond, complementing Emirates' existing non-stop daily service between Auckland and Dubai and its current daily A380 service between Christchurch and Dubai via Sydney.

Travellers will also enjoy a choice of three daily services between Bali to Dubai in the northern summer, as the new flight adds to Emirates' two existing daily services which are currently operated by a Boeing 777 300-ER in a two-class configuration.

Clark said the new Emirates service, together with the transtasman network changes announced in tandem with the airline's renewed Qantas partnership, ultimately offered a new destination and more choice for New Zealand travellers whether they were headed to Australia or beyond.

"This underscores Emirates' commitment to New Zealand, dating back nearly 15 years, and our confidence in its growing tourism market."

Bali attracted more than 4.5 million foreign tourist arrivals in 2016, including more than 40,500 New Zealanders.

Northbound, the new service will depart Auckland as flight EK 451 at12.40 pm, arriving in Denpasar at 5.55pm local time. It will depart Denpasar at 7.50pm arriving in Dubai just after midnight and connecting to flights to points beyond on the Emirates network.