AirAsia cuts Bali flights from Australia over soaring fuel costs

AirAsia has been forced to suspend routes from Australia to Bali due to soaring jet fuel costs.

The airline announced Friday that its Melbourne-to-Denpasar and Adelaide-to-Denpasar services will operate for the final time on June 18, News.Az reports, citing News.com.au.

“This decision has been made in response to the sustained increase in global jet fuel prices caused by the ongoing geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East,” Indonesia AirAsia general manager Achmad Sadikin Abdurachman said.

“This operating environment has led to the need to refocus our network on routes that remain operationally viable at this time,” he added.

“AirAsia understands the suspension impacts long-made travel plans and we apologise for the inconvenience this decision has caused, and we want to thank our guests for their support and understanding.”

The airline said it is contacting ticket holders directly and will seek to place affected travelers on earlier flights operating through Kuala Lumpur.

With crude oil prices remaining above $100 a barrel, the cost of jet fuel has more than doubled since the United States and Israel began bombing Iran.

Ultra-budget US carrier Spirit Airlines announced earlier this month that it was shutting down operations immediately after 50 years in business.

Meanwhile, Air New Zealand has increased ticket prices and this week warned that its full-year losses are expected to range between NZ$340 million and NZ$390 million ($278 million-$319 million).

AirAsia has been heavily affected by the global oil price shock.

Just three days after the conflict began and the Strait of Hormuz closed, the airline announced that the Adelaide-to-Bali route would increase from four weekly flights to seven. The change took effect on March 21, and the airline had indicated that services could rise to 10 flights per week during peak travel periods.

March 3 was also the date the airline announced the Melbourne-to-Bali route.

The focus on Adelaide and Melbourne came at the expense of other services, with the Darwin-to-Kuala Lumpur and Darwin-to-Bali routes being discontinued. Those services were operated by AirAsia Malaysia and Indonesia AirAsia, respectively, and had only been running since March and June 2025.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev