Jamie McIntyre, founder of Marinabay.city — a US $6 billion development in Lombok, Indonesia — and founder of the Australian National Review, is calling on Australian airlines to increase the number of direct flights from Australia to Lombok.
McIntyre believes Lombok is perfectly positioned to serve as the de facto second airport for Bali — a role that could be filled immediately, without the years-long wait for Bali’s proposed second airport in the north of the island. Lombok’s existing international airport already has extensive capacity available, and with the island experiencing a tourism boom as Bali becomes increasingly overcrowded, he says it’s the logical solution to help ease congestion.
“Rather than wait years for Bali’s second airport to be built, we could start shifting part of the tourist load to Lombok right now,” McIntyre said. “This would benefit both islands — helping Bali reduce congestion while giving Lombok a massive tourism boost.”
According to McIntyre, airlines such as Jetstar are already in discussions with his team to explore increased flight capacity from Australia to Lombok. He is also advocating for a practical inter-island solution: allowing flights that land in Bali — from carriers such as Jetstar and Virgin Australia — to disembark international passengers, then reload with domestic passengers for a short hop to Lombok. The same aircraft could then return to Bali with domestic passengers before reloading for flights back to Australian cities.
McIntyre argues that such an arrangement would unlock “massive” new capacity on the Bali–Lombok route. Currently, he says, flights between the two islands are so frequently sold out that travelers are often forced to take ferries — a journey that can be dangerous in rough seas and can take several hours or more.
“With a simple change in airline scheduling, we could make Lombok far more accessible, encourage tourism growth, and give Bali some breathing space,” McIntyre said.
