Batik Air Malaysia, formerly known as Malindo Air is launching a route that I find to be particularly fascinating (thanks to @LachlanB_ for flagging this). This also has to be the longest “direct” narrow body flight in the world.
In this post:
Batik Air will fly from Kuala Lumpur to Perth to Auckland
Perth to Auckland is the longest route between Australia and New Zealand, and it’s also a route that Air New Zealand presently dominates, as there’s no competition. Starting in a matter of days, there will be competition on this route, and it won’t be from Qantas.
As of August 24, 2023, Batik Air is launching a 6x weekly service between Perth (PER) and Auckland (AKL). The route will operate with the following schedule:
OD195 Perth to Auckland departing 6:10PM arriving 4:45AM (+1 day)
OD196 Auckland to Perth departing 7:00AM arriving 10:40AM
The 3,323-mile flight is blocked at 6hr35min eastbound and 7hr40min westbound. Batik Air will use a Boeing 737 MAX 8 for the route, featuring 162 seats. This includes 12 business class seats and 150 economy class seats.
So, why would Batik Air start flying between Australia and New Zealand? Well, this is an extension to the carrier’s existing service between Kuala Lumpur (KUL) and Perth (PER), which operates with the following schedule:
OD195 Kuala Lumpur to Perth departing 10:35AM arriving 4:10PM
OD196 Perth to Kuala Lumpur departing 11:40AM arriving 5:20PM
The 2,563-mile flight is blocked at 5hr35min southbound and 5hr40min westbound.
Since the new flight is a fifth freedom service, passengers can fly between Kuala Lumpur and Perth, between Perth and Auckland, or between Kuala Lumpur and Auckland.
That’s one long Boeing 737 MAX flight!
The flight between Perth and Auckland is one of the longer Boeing 737 MAX flights out there to begin with. But the “direct” flight between Kuala Lumpur and Auckland really takes long narrow body flights to the next level.
If you fly all the way from Kuala Lumpur to Auckland on the same flight number, that journey has a duration of 14hr10min.
Meanwhile if you fly all the way from Auckland to Kuala Lumpur on the same flight number, that journey has a duration of 14hr20min.
Bottom line
In the coming weeks, Batik Air is launching a new nonstop flight between Perth and Auckland, which is a continuation of the carrier’s existing Kuala Lumpur to Perth service. For those who travel this route, it’s great that there will be some competition for Air New Zealand, which currently has the market to itself, and often prices tickets accordingly.
I’m curious if Batik Air is able to succeed in this market, and what the passenger mix ends up being between those traveling just between Australia and New Zealand, and those connecting from Malaysia.
What do you make of Batik Air’s new Perth to Auckland route?
Finally some competition on this route. Christchurch or Wellington next :)
Never flew w Malindo-version of Batik, but I fear the overall experience would be just as bad with any Lion Air-associated entity. Flew once with Batik Air on an Indonesian-domestic flight, never again. First, the ground experience is really bad, 1 check in desk, manned by 2 staffers, with 30+ ppl on queue, with no attempts from supervisor to assist, Second, the boarding/de-boarding process - plane were parked on international terminal across the domestic terminal,...
Never flew w Malindo-version of Batik, but I fear the overall experience would be just as bad with any Lion Air-associated entity. Flew once with Batik Air on an Indonesian-domestic flight, never again. First, the ground experience is really bad, 1 check in desk, manned by 2 staffers, with 30+ ppl on queue, with no attempts from supervisor to assist, Second, the boarding/de-boarding process - plane were parked on international terminal across the domestic terminal, so everyone had to be bussed in. The de-boarding was the same, plane was parked on a terminal, but then pax were bussed in to another to be dropped off, which affected the luggage delivery time.
It's a s**t-show overall, almost exact same experience with Lion Air.
Firm 'No' from me.
Bravo Air Batek excellent customer service .........comparable to superb Air New Zealand
PER to AKL is really pushing at the limits of the MAX8's range. Any bad weather event at the destination airport will see the flight divert.
The longest one is, probably, Virgin Australia's Cairns-Haneda which is about 300 miles longer than Perth-Auckland. Operated by 737 MAX 8 too. This must be a very close second, though.
Shall I say this is an "interesting" flight schedule and choice of plane.
Westbound will take longer because of the wind.
Flight time AKL/PER is scheduled as 7.40 hours, with a further 5.40 hours PER/KUL.
Either of those flights is long haul for a 737 MAX. If you fly the whole route it will take 14.20 hours!!
The real issue will be the fact that the 737 only has 3 toilets....
Shall I say this is an "interesting" flight schedule and choice of plane.
Westbound will take longer because of the wind.
Flight time AKL/PER is scheduled as 7.40 hours, with a further 5.40 hours PER/KUL.
Either of those flights is long haul for a 737 MAX. If you fly the whole route it will take 14.20 hours!!
The real issue will be the fact that the 737 only has 3 toilets. 12 for business, and 150 for economy. There are queues for the economy toilets on Trans Tasman flights, which take 3 to 4 hours. Toilet queues will not be pleasant if a flight takes close to 8 hours.
I note Air New Zealand are flying PER/AKL with the A330. Should be a much more pleasant flight.
Ben - FYI - Your screenshots are from Batik Air Indonesia's website, which quotes in Indonesian rupiah. More likely, passengers on this route would book via Batik Air Malaysia's website (still branded as Malindo Air), which quotes in Malaysian ringgit, Australian dollars or New Zealand dollars, depending on the respective departure points.
Business class isn't even cheap for recliner seats! Also QF did fly this route a few years back with an A330 - dont know why they stopped it.
Yikes!
Presses the red Reject button.....
Is a 737 32" economy seat really significantly different in comfort to a typical widebody economy seat?
Apart from those wanting a flat bed in business class etc., I don't see what the issue is with the many people who won't fly long distance on a narrowbody?
The reason I prefer widebodies isn't because of the seat, but due to the wider cabin, which results in more room to walk around and a feeling of spaciousness/airiness.
But, as you say, narrowbody and widebody seats are similar comfort-wise. Additionally, most modern NB have the same features as long-haul WB seats (IFE, power ports, and, in Business Class on an increasing number of airlines, lie-flat beds).
I actually wouldn't mind long-haul on...
The reason I prefer widebodies isn't because of the seat, but due to the wider cabin, which results in more room to walk around and a feeling of spaciousness/airiness.
But, as you say, narrowbody and widebody seats are similar comfort-wise. Additionally, most modern NB have the same features as long-haul WB seats (IFE, power ports, and, in Business Class on an increasing number of airlines, lie-flat beds).
I actually wouldn't mind long-haul on a narrowbody if the seats are decent enough, but again, I still prefer widebodies because of the...wider fuselage.
One aisle means you can't go to the toilet or otherwise move around while the service trolley is out
Good to see finally someone else is flying to Auckland apart from Air Newzealand
It’s a no from me, dawg.
As many others have said, Batik are not full service in economy. They are BoB.
@KS..Batik Air is a full service carrier as they offer business class service, at least within Indonesia.
That's not what "full service" means - many LCCs offer business class.
Full service means that standard in-flight services like cabin baggage, hold luggage, food, drinks etc. are all included in the base fare. They seem to include luggage, but not the rest. I haven't looked into them since the Malindo Air days, but back then they were positioning themselves as a "premium" LCC as opposed to full service.
Agree with Callum. And just a word of caution: Drinks means "non-alcoholic" drinks, since Batik is a dry airline.
Flew Batik domestically last year while Garuda was trying to get itself back together.. No complaints
Fast forward to today. Booked multiple domestic Batik tickets with 3rd party agent because they don't accept US CC. For no reason, moved me to another time slot which I couldn't make. Wanted another 50% of my original fare as a "change fee" to move me back.
Had agent cancel ticket. Despite my agent sending multiple requests for a...
Flew Batik domestically last year while Garuda was trying to get itself back together.. No complaints
Fast forward to today. Booked multiple domestic Batik tickets with 3rd party agent because they don't accept US CC. For no reason, moved me to another time slot which I couldn't make. Wanted another 50% of my original fare as a "change fee" to move me back.
Had agent cancel ticket. Despite my agent sending multiple requests for a refund, I haven't seen a dime in months. Ignores my emails forwarding the agents emails to them requesting refund.
Agent says they do this repeatedly and there are those who've been waiting even longer than me.
You are forewarned about this airline. Grifters
Batik Air is a joke. Unexplained delays that were not covered by Amex Plat travel insurance (AIG). Only customer service is email and WhatsApp. WhatsApp is operated by bots that are useless. Good luck.
And as Patti said, no US CC accepted. Had to book through a third party. I would definitely pay more for a different airline in the future.
Batik charges for meals, which they say is to save food wastage, but let's be honest, they are just an LCC dressed up. They are going to do well out of this one as Air NZ is the only other carrier, and they are capacity constrained.
Also just went through this with them. Their customer service is non-existent. I booked a flight through them directly and they emailed me to say the flight had been cancelled 5 days before the day of the flight. But they didn’t reschedule me on another flight and they wouldn’t respond to any messages on what’s app or email (no phone number to call). After 3 days I eventually just decided to buy another flight. Of...
Also just went through this with them. Their customer service is non-existent. I booked a flight through them directly and they emailed me to say the flight had been cancelled 5 days before the day of the flight. But they didn’t reschedule me on another flight and they wouldn’t respond to any messages on what’s app or email (no phone number to call). After 3 days I eventually just decided to buy another flight. Of course a few hours after I did that I get an email with my updated schedule changed flight but at that point there was no way to get a refund on the other flight I just booked, and customer service was still MIA.
All in all the two tickets were only about $100 total so I just decided to cut my losses with this incompetent airline. Not worth the headache.
They are not a full service airline offering food and drinks for free.
I flew them a few months ago from Sydney to Bali - you have to pay for everything. Even water. No pillows or blankets either.
Batik Air is NOT a full service carrier. It was rebranded as a low cost carrier a few years ago.
More than 5 hours on a single aisle jet is a non starter for me. Also Batik Air is under the Lionair group which has questionable safety standards so definitely a no go.