Bali is one of the most popular Indonesian tourism spots. Regional and international tourists are interested in visiting this island due to its richness in both natural and cultural tourism destination. Unsurprisingly, it is well known that international visitors and people even know Bali better than Indonesia itself. The high number of visitors regularly coming to Bali makes Bali—in some spots—crowded because so many vehicles are around. However, you do not need to worry or hesitate to visit Bali and spend your quality time there as long as you have enough information.
One of information you should not miss is about its airport. There found one airport in Bali called Ngurah Rai airport. Most of visitors would like to choose flight than other available options. This closely relates to the position of Bali as a relatively small island reachable by riding boat or ferry in land transportation and by plane in air transportation. Therefore, in comparison to a tiring and exhausting trip by bus, train or public vehicles, most people would prefer riding a plane to reach Bali. It is urgent for them, then, to know much information about Bali’s airport.
You may also search:
Here are some important points about Bali’s airport you can pay attention to:
Naming
Airport in Bali Indonesia, only a few people know that Ngurah Rai international airport is the newer name. Before, it was named Tuban Airport, implying the location it exists. The change happened at 1st of August, 1960, and formally legalized by the former President, Soeharto. Ngurah Rai is the name of Balinese hero so for commemorating and appreciating his roles and struggle, the Bali’s airport, which is the 3rd busiest Indonesian airport, after Soekarno Hatta airport at Jakarta and Juanda airport at Surabaya, is named after him. Besides those two, this airport was also well known as South Bali, as spoken and used by Dutch government and colonialists.
Location
Ngurah Rai airport in Bali Indonesia was located at Tuban, Kuta, about 13 kilometres from the capital of Bali, Denpasar City. Its IATA code is DPS while its ICAO is WADD (the former was WRRR). Tuban itself is a name of village where the airport exists while Kuta is the district. For local transportation from and to airport, you can use public or private vehicles. Airport taxi is also available so you will not find it hard to go to or from airport. Nowadays, after its enlargement and continuous improvement, Ngurah Rai airport is more intensely correlated to Badung, Bali, as its location.
You may also search:
History
The airport in Bali in Indonesia was firstly established at 1930 by Dutch government, especially the department of public work. Five years later, the airport had already been equipped by telegraph tools and KNIM. It enabled Royal Netherland Aiways to land regularly at the airport. Therefore, it can be concluded that this airport was firstly established to help Dutch run its mission .
Following the shift of the authority turning from Dutch to Japanesse at 1942, the airport was bombed by Japanesse. Automatically, it turned its function to support Japanesse and their mission in Indonesia. Japanesse planes regularly land off at the airport and they also changed the damaged equipment—because of the bombing tragedy—into pear still plate system.
Time by time, Indonesian government tried hard to complete all needed equipment ranging from the enlargement of landing area, building of new terminals, reclamation process and so on and so forth. Those efforts came to a real result when at August 10th, 1966, the airport was open for public for the very first time. Before, as mentioned above, the airport was only available for specific and certain purposes. It is well known that when the government formally legalized the change of name, it also symbolized the openness of airport service to public.
Next nine years after, the government built new facilities responding to the higher number of visitors day by day, including international visitors interested in Bali tourism destination. They did it through a three-year program from 1975-1978. As a result, many new facilities were found and the airport staffs could be brave to serve more passengers than before. This development also happened by utilizing some ‘old’ places and modifying them into newer function such as the turning function of domestic terminal area as cargo building, catering center and multi purpose building .
The enlargement and improvement of Ngurah Rai airport did not stop at that phase. Later on, it had experienced a series of development including three steps. The first one started on 1990 and finished two years later, the following started on 1998 and finished two years later as well while the following happened not long after that. The series of project was called, PFBUKP standing for Pengembangan Fasilitas untuk Keselamatan Penerbangan or Facility Improvement for Flight Safety.
For the first phase, the development was all about the enlargement of airport area including landing and take-off field, terminal building (as well as repairmen), apron and parking area. It also included the installment of aviobridge, relocation of taxi way as well as the improvement of air navigation facilities. This first phase gave significant change to the airport and made its quality improved. Passengers began to have better service and safer flight.
Meanwhile, the second phase of PFBUKP worked in turning the function of mangrove jungle into the safe flight facility. Passengers might not directly enjoy this facility yet it gave them a big deal of improvement in assuring the safety of their flight. It was about 12 hectares of the jungle modified as safe flight facility.
Next on, the ‘homework’ of follow-up improvement from the first phase was conducted at the third phase. Enlargement and improvement of some areas were conducted including terminal building, parking area and apron. The former domestic terminal was turned into international one and vice versa. Together with some other improvement and construction of new building (s), Ngurah Rai airport is available to accommodate and serve about 25 million passengers in a year.
By continuous and sustainable building and improvement, Ngurah Rai airport was successful in getting Certificate of ISO 140001: 2004 last 2004. The certificate confirmed that the airport has been implementing environmental management system which comply with environmental management system-requirements. This acknowledgment made Ngurah Rai airport one of the most popular and reliable airports in Indonesia so everyone would be sure to use its service more and more.
You may also search:
Facilities
Visiting Ngurah Rai airport, especially at international terminal, will make you feel like being somewhere because many foreigners are around you. International tourists like to visit Bali more and more even though they had already made a visit before. Well to make sure that you will not find any trouble when in Ngurah Rai facilities, it would be good for you to have some information about its facilities. The following list mentions the facility you would find there.
1. Domestic terminal
Domestic terminal of Ngurah Rai international airport has eight gates from 1 A, 1 B, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Its arrival part has four gates for luggage withdrawal. Make sure you pay attention to the instruction on your flight ticket and or after having a check in because Ngurah Rai international airport is crowded. Once you get lost, you would put your flight at risk, moreover if you run out of time.
Domestic terminal extends about 65.000 M2 and is available to serve 9 million passengers in a year. Besides, it also and equipped with some basic facilities such as check in counter, aviobridge, transit venue, boarding and trolley.
2. International terminal
The number of international terminal gates is more than the domestic one and this can show that international tourists from around the world never stops loving and visiting Bali. Ngurah Rai international airport has 14 gates for international terminal from 1 A, 1 B, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9A, 9 B (all of them is at the third floor, for departure) and 10, 11 and 12 for arrival located at the first floor. This terminal has seven gates for luggage withdrawal.
Available to serve 16 million passengers a year, international terminal extends about 65.800 M2, about three times larger than the domestic one. It also has 95 check-in counters, 24 units of aviobridge, 32 units of Visa on Arrival, 11 units of elevator, 14 units of traveler, 29 units of escalator, immigration counter (36 units for both arrival and departure) and conveyor baggage handling unit (7 units for arrival and 4 for departure). Paying attention to this list facilities may imply that international visitors are well-served at Ngurah Rai airport.
3. Local Transport and Travel Service
As mentioned before, to go to and from airport, you can ride either private or public vehicle. If you prefer public vehicle, Bali has a very affordable choice of vehicle called bemo. Compared to other transportation service such as (airport) taxi or ojek, this vehicle offers the cheapest price. You can also rent a car from airport with a large choice ranging from Avis, Thrifty, Hertz and TRAC. If it seems too expensive, airport taxi could be your good preference.
Visitors can also find travel service available at the airport. Hiring the travel service will ease them dealing with hotel booking as well as trip to various spots of tourism destination. This is particularly important for those who visit Bali at the very first time. Some of which are Golden Bird, Wirasana and Bali Prasarana Fortuna.
4. Canteen
Inside or outside the passengers terminals, visitors can easily find food and beverages stores. Therefore, your stay for transit or for waiting your flight would not be disturbed by hunger or thirstiness because the canteens and stores are all around.
You may also search:
5. Retail Store
In addition to canteens, you can also find retail store at the airport. Although the price will likely be far higher than what you find outside the airport, it could still be your preference for buying local souvenirs, books, daily need as well as duty free shops.
6. Parking Area
Parking your vehicle in Ngurah Rai airport would be a safe choice as the staffs use integrated parking management system. For four-wheel vehicle, Ngurah Rai airport has three categories which are MLCP (Multi Level Car Parking), premium area and regular area. Each of them has different facilities, tariff and volume so you can adjust your choice to your budget. Meanwhile for two wheel vehicle, Ngurah Rai has three units of park building and at the outdoor. As conclusion, at one time, Ngurah Rai international airport can accommodate 1.600 units of four-wheel vehicle and 1.963 units of two-wheel vehicle.
7. Apron
Apron or the parking are of plane is available at two areas, which is North area and the South area. The north one can accommodate 37 planes at one time at maximum. This is specifically used for the reguler flight planes with wide body. Meanwhile, the South one is for smaller planes used for charter service and unscheduled flight. Its location is far narrower as it can only accommodate 16 parking stands of plane. It makes sense why the apron of Ngurah Rai international airport is relatively large, as it serves many flight companies.
Visa on Arrival Service
As mentioned above, Ngurah Rai international airport, at its international terminals, has 32 units of Visa on Arrival service. Not every airport provides this service and Ngurah Rai is one of twenty Indonesian airports serving for Visa on Arrival. This service allows international visitors to visit Indonesia, and more specifically Bali, in a short periodic time, i.e. one month, for the purpose of tourism trip, governmental meeting, business or cultural trip.
Any qualified international visitors would have VoA issued by immigration staffs when they can fulfill three main criteria; which are valid passport, excluded at the escapee or wanted persons list and able to pay the fee. Recently, visitors from sixty five countries can have this VoA so they do not need to have a regular visa to visit Indonesia.
Departure Procedure
This information would be specifically helpful for those who use the airport service for the first time. At minimum, at the departure process, here is the procedure passengers need to pass through one by one
1. Security Check #1
Passenger would have to pass through the first security check at the front gate. Special staffs are ready to do the check and passengers need to show their document including flight ticket and original identity card. After that, their luggage will be checked through X-ray machine. During this process, it would be better if the passengers put their iron products, including electrical device like hand-phone, tab and others, in the luggage so the checking process will not take too much time.
Besides the luggage, the passengers themselves will be checked by WTMD device, standing for Walk Through Metal Detector, to make sure that they do not bring any dangerous materials along with the body. They can just pass the device through after putting the luggage at the X-ray machine then take it back after passing it through. Many restricted products are any iron-made products with sharp edge such as knife, matches, and other endangering or restricted products.
2. Check-In
As well as at the front gate, passengers need to take a queue to have a check in. As there are many check-in counters available, make sure to be at the right counter suitable with the flight number. The counter will open two hours before the flight so manage your time well.
When it comes to your turn, show the ticket flight again as well as the original identity card and the staff will give you a new ticket after taking the ticket your hold before. At this counter, you can also give your luggage if you decide to put it at the baggage instead of plane cabin. Remember that your luggage should not exceed 7 kilograms if you want to put it at the plane cabin. If it does, then give your luggange to the check-in staff and take it back after your arrival at conveyor baggage handling. The staffs at the counter will also tell you which number of departure venue you should be in.
3. Payment of PJP2U
PJP2U stands for Pelayanan Jasa Penumpang Pesawat Udara or Service of Air Plane Passengers and only occurs to domestic flight. It is also often called passenger service charge numbering 75 k IDR. Today, the price pf PJP2U is already included at the ticket price so passengers would not need to pay anymore. Free payment of PJP2U also applyies to transit passengers, baby, aircraft crew and country guest.
4. Security Check #2
This check is not different from the previous one. Passangers would need to put their luggage at the X-ray machine and they have pass through a WTMD machine. This check is located at the front gate at departure venue so once you can pass it through, you will arrive at the departure venue and sit down at the available seat while waiting your plane.
5. Departure Venue
At the departure venue, you can see landing field under the glass window. Seats are available as well as charger-counter, television and air conditioner. Pay attention to the announcement broadcasted through a loud speaker because it will inform you about the flight schedule.
You can also pay your attention to electrical board listing the schedule so you will not miss your plane. Meanwhile, there are the details and facts about airport in Bali, Indonesia.