Cheap and Easy Flights Between Indonesia and Europe

Last updated: November 18, 2010

Some of the increased options that passengers now have for international flights to Europe.

This is thanks to an increase in Middle-Eastern airlines flying from Indonesia to their hub in the Persian Gulf – often direct and non-stop – connecting to many other cities in Europe.

These airlines not only offer cheaper flights and better connection times, they offer faster/more direct flight paths to many larger European cities (e.g. Berlin, Milan, Birmingham, Vienna) that aren’t hub airports themselves or don’t receive many inter-continental flights. For example, people in Birmingham don’t have to fly via London Heathrow or another European hub before continuing to Asia.

This post outlines some of these options in more detail. For the short version, see here.

Based in: Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Flies from: Jakarta, twice daily non-stop
Destinations: 105
In Europe: Amsterdam, Athens, Birmingham, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Istanbul, Madrid, Malta, Manchester, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Newcastle, Paris, Prague, Rome, Venice, Vienna, Zurich.

Based in: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Flies from: Jakarta, daily non-stop
Destinations: 66
In Europe: Athens, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Manchester, Minsk, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Paris.

Based in: Kuwait City, Kuwait
Flies from: Jakarta, 3 days/week via Kuala Lumpur
Destinations: 37
In Europe: Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Paris, Rome.

Based in: Doha, Qatar
Flies from: Jakarta, 9 times/week via Kuala Lumpur;
Denpasar, 7 days/week with a stop in Singapore
Destinations: “More than 90″
In Europe: Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Copenhagen, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Moscow, Paris, Rome, Stockholm, Zurich, Vienna. Coming soon: Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Nice.

Based in: Istanbul, Turkey
Flies from: Jakarta, 6 days/week via Singapore
Destinations: More than 100, perhaps some are code-share flights
In Europe: Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Cologne, Copenhagen, Dortmund, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hamburg, Hannover, Helsinki, Kiev, Lisbon, London, Lyons, Madrid, Manchester, Milan, Minsk, Moscow, Nice, Oslo, Paris, Prague, Rome, Sarajevo, Sofia, Stockholm, Stuttgart, Venice, Vienna, Zurich.

Based in: Sanaa, Yemen
Flies from: Jakarta, 3 times/week via Kuala Lumpur
Destinations: 34
In Europe: Frankfurt, London, Marseille, Paris, Rome.

---

If you would like to fly one of these airlines – and want to pay in €, £, $US or $A – please fill in the booking form here.

13 Comments on Cheap and Easy Flights Between Indonesia and Europe

1. timdog Says:
   November 18th, 2010 at 7:03 pm

   I’ve spent far more hours wandering around Abu Dhabi or Dubai airport in the jet-lagged middle of the night than I would like, but yes, these airlines are generally the first choice on price for flying anywhere in Southeast Asia, and in the case of Emirates and Etihad (both of which I’ve flown with a bunch of times) rate pretty high on service too…

   I’d probably lean away from Kuwait Airways. They are usually cheap coming FROM Indonesia, but there seems to be an unnaturally high chance of getting stuck in Kuwait because of connection problems. I once spent a bleak 24 hours locked in an airport hotel in Kuwait, and exactly the same thing happened to a friend of mine last year…

   Does Gulf Air still fly from Jakarta? I haven’t flown with them for ages, but they used to be a pretty good choice for cheap flights between Europe and Asia…

   Chris, maybe you can explain something to me – why is a return between the UK and Indonesia always cheaper if the UK is the starting point? You can NEVER find an Indonesia-UK-Indonesia flight as cheap as a UK-Indonesia-UK flight, even with the same airline…

2. Hans Says:
   November 19th, 2010 at 12:01 am

   We have flown with Turkish. cheap, nothing to moan about. thought it was like to fly with Lufthansa or KLM, it was actually much nicer in Istanbul, they are not messing in the security check. Frankfurt has been horrible with a bad attitude, especially when we coming from Asia and will start flying domestic routes in Europe, they terrorize passengers as if all the travelers are Muslim terrorists. refuses to set foot in Frankfurt, MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL FROM SWEDEN. love U

3. ET Says:
   November 19th, 2010 at 1:06 pm

   @ timdog

   “these airlines are generally the first choice on price for flying anywhere in Southeast Asia,”

   Correction, they were the 1st choice. I once flew Qatar from Manchester to Denpasar and it was incredibly cheap but next time I tried there was no difference with the major airlines on this route.

4. Chris Says:
   November 19th, 2010 at 9:55 pm

   > Does Gulf Air still fly from Jakarta?

   No, they cut back a lot of their long-haul routes a couple of years ago.

   I almost called the article “Gulf air-lines”, but thought it was too weird considering Gulf Air doesn’t fly here any more.

5. timdog Says:
   November 19th, 2010 at 10:36 pm

   I see… It only occured to me as I was reading the article that I hadn’t seen or flown with Gulf for ages, and hadn’t even seen them come up on the searches when booking longhaul flights…

   ET, it all depends on when you book, and sometimes if you time it right a promo-fare from another airline coincides with no promos from the gulf lot. But in my experience (and I pretty much always just go for the cheapest one), there’s a good chance it’ll be one of the above mentioned airlines. Over the last couple of years my UK-Indonesia flights have been Etihad, Emirates, Etihad (and during that period my mum flew out with Qatar, also the cheapest at the time)…
   Singapore and Malaysian used to crop up quite often; Singapore still do sometimes, but it’s ages since I’ve seen a competative promo from Malaysian…

   You’d think that Brunei would offer better promos, but they never seem to…

6. Chris Says:
   November 20th, 2010 at 9:49 am

   > You’d think that Brunei would offer better promos, but they never seem to…

   Royal Brunei Airlines used to be like the SE Asian version of Emirates, with cheaper fares due to low fuel surcharges.

   These days, they are good for flights to Auckland (New Zealand), and previously had some of the cheapest flights between Indonesia and Perth/Brisbane (Australia).

   Now Air Asia flies to Perth (direct from Denpasar) and Gold Coast (from Kuala Lumpur) I doubt RB can match it.

7. Lairedion Says:
   November 22nd, 2010 at 5:30 pm

   AirAsia will start flying to Paris Orly from KL, it has been announced on their website.

8. Hans Says:
   November 25th, 2010 at 1:09 am

   Forced to change airport
   A disadvantage is that Air Asia flies from Orly airport south of Paris, while flights with, Lufthansa, SAS and Air France landing at Charles de Gaulle on the other side of town and Ryanair in Beauvais even further north of Paris.
   Air Asia already has a long line London-Kuala Lumpur. if you live in Paris or London it may be an option, otherwise just to little money to win.

9. Mokhamad Farid Fauzi Says:
   March 30th, 2011 at 4:48 pm

   I need information about flight Indonesia (Jakarta / Denpasar) to Hungary (Budapest) return for short course in July 2011. Thank you.

10. indogirl Says:
    April 18th, 2011 at 10:00 am

    Several times ago I read an information on internet that there is a route from Denpasar to Bucharest, Romania. Is that right? What’s the airplane? and how much is it?

    thx

11. Chris Says:
    October 19th, 2012 at 3:11 pm

    Update in the news today:

    Garuda, Etihad sign code-share agreement

    National flag carrier Garuda Indonesia and fast growing Gulf airline Etihad Airways signed a code-share agreement to help expand international networks between the two carriers.

    The agreement was signed on Thursday by Garuda president director Emirsyah Satar and Etihad president and CEO James Hogan in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and witnessed by Indonesian Ambassador to UAE Salman Al Farisi.

    “Through this agreement, Garuda will be able to connect to more than 80 Etihad destinations in 50 countries including London, Dublin, Milan, Munich, Geneva, New York, Toronto, Amman and Istanbul. This will bring Indonesia to the world,” Emirsyah said in a statement sent to The Jakarta Post.

    This agreement, the statement said, would give Etihad connections to major cities in Indonesia, other Southeast Asian countries, Australia and Japan.

    My thoughts:

    - It seems rather similar to last month’s Qantas/Emirates deal.

    - What happened to Garuda’s plans to open new routes into Europe? And if Garuda has abandoned these plans, where will all their new planes fly to?

    - Indonesian authorities have in the past been resistant/reluctant to approve cooperation with foreign airlines, including AirAsia’s recent planned acquisition (now cancelled) of Batavia Air. Will they feel differently this time?

    - Will international passengers prefer to travel on flights operated by Etihad rather than by Garuda? If this happens in a big way, this could be a problem.

12. Chris Says:
    February 14th, 2013 at 10:47 am

    Garuda is planning to commence non-stop flights between Jakarta and London later this year:

    Garuda to spread its wings to London’s Gatwick in Q4

13. Chris Says:
    February 23rd, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    Emirates will increase its flights between Jakarta and Dubai to three times per day, effective 2 March 2013:

    Emirates ups Dubai-Jakarta direct service

Comment on Cheap and Easy Flights Between Indonesia and Europe