According to reporting from Tempo, Batik Air, a subsidiary of low-cost carrier Lion Air, have announced it would open new round-trip flights connecting Kualanamu in North Sumatra and Chennai in India, while another route will connect Kualanamu directly to Bali.
Danang Mandala Prihantoro, Batik Air’s corporate communications officer, said Kualanamu in Sumatra’s Deli Serdang is aimed to become a main transit for passengers continuing their journey to Chennai and direct flights to Bali and the new routes aim to invite Indonesia’s travelers and business people to use the opportunity to travel the beauty of India through the Kualanamu International Airport,” report Tempo.
In its official schedule, Batik Air’s Kualanamu-Chennai route will be served by Boeing 737-800NG and Airbus 320-200 aircraft and will depart at 19:55 WIB (Western Indonesia time) and arrive at 21:45 IST (India time). For the Chennai-Kualanamu route, the flight will depart at 23:10 IST and arrive at 04:00 WIB, according to Tempo.
Meanwhile, for the Kualanamu-Bali route, Batik Air is scheduled to depart at 08:15 WIB and arrive at 12:35 WITA (Bali time/ Central Indonesia time). The Bali-Kualanamu route will be scheduled to depart at 13:40 WITA and arriving at 16:25 WIB.
Tempo say that business people and tourists from Penang, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore now have easy access to travel to South Asia and according to Danang, this opens up new opportunities in business and tourism.
Geographically, the distance between Kualanamu and Chennai is roughly 1,500-kilometers. Direct flights from Kualanamu International Airport to Chennai have a relatively short travel time with an average flight taking between 3 to 4 hours.
Source: Tempo
