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.
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?
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