Bali Island in Indonesia. Photo by Shutterstock
President Prabowo Subianto of Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, has pledged to build a new international airport in Bali, with hopes of transforming the holiday island into “the new Singapore”.
“I am committed to building the North Bali International Airport. We will turn Bali into the new Singapore, the new Hong Kong… an economic center,” the newly-inaugurated president said at a recent event, as quoted by The Bali Sun.
The planned airport, located in the Kubutambahan District in northern Bali, will be about two hours by road from the capital, Denpasar. This new airport aims to alleviate congestion at the existing Ngurah Rai International Airport, Channel News Asia reported.
Bali’s tourism industry has significantly rebounded since Covid-19. Last year, the island welcomed 15.5 million visitors, nearly matching its 2019 pre-Covid figures.
In the first seven months of this year, visitor numbers reached 3.89 million, an increase from 2.9 million during the same period last year.
The proposal for a second Bali airport was initially made in 2020 but faced delays due to a lack of support from the island’s local government, according to Bloomberg.
The project is expected to take two to three years to complete and aims to serve 20 million passengers annually, accommodating large aircraft like the Boeing 777-300 and Airbus A380.
The number of foreign visitors to Indonesia exceeded 10 million as of September, inching closer to the full-year target of 14 million, according to the country’s Central Statistics Agency.
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