Bali Cheapest Tours

Bali Airport - Denpasar Ngurah Rai Iternational Airport

Bali Airport known Denpasar Ngurah Rai International Airport (Indonesian: Bandar Udara Internasional Ngurah Rai) is the main airport in Bali, located 13 km south of Denpasar. Ngurah Rai International Airport is the second busiest airport in Indonesia after Soekarno–Hatta International Airport. The Bali airport has category IX and is capable of serving wide-body aircraft including the Airbus A380.

What you should do when reached Bali Airport ?

After your plane landed at Bali airport, you'll head inside the arrival terminal. This houses the immigration area where you queue and present your passport and visa. There are two sections, one for Visa-on-Arrival (VoA) and non VoA. As of last update in March 2016, there are 169 nations eligible to enter Indonesia visa-free.

The process should not take longer than 15 minutes; however expect long queues when crowds of fellow passengers arrive. Once through immigration, proceed to baggage claims, and have your baggage claim tag ready. Trolleys around the baggage claim area are available, as well as porter services. Just outside the terminal is the arrival hall. This is the rendezvous point and pick-up zone where the final steps of your arrival process takes place.

How to get your Hotel from Bali Aiport ?

Bali Airport is in the island’s southern part, where most of the main tourism areas and hotels are. Many hotels operate courtesy shuttles services, so best check with the hotel you booked. Following are several alternative transport options you may opt for.

• Bali Airport Taxi, or 'Taksi Ngurah Rai', is the only taxi service available at the airport. You can find taxi counters outside both terminals. They operate on a pre-paid voucher system sold at the official taxi desk. The services are available 24 hours. A list of fixed taxi prices shows rates depending on the hotel destination (i.e. Kuta, Sanur, Nusa Dua or other areas). Always try to use the listed rates.
  
• Metered taxis operate outside Bali airport's grounds. These taxis by other operators aren't allowed to pickup passengers within the airport. However, walking the distance to the exit, with luggage, and waving for one outside can be inconvenient.
  
• Bali Airport Transfer Servise which prove the easiest ways to go from Bali Airport to your hotel. Some are exclusive limousine services that put comfort and ease foremost.
  

Departures from Bali Airport

Arriving at the Bali Airport, from the drop zone you head towards the security checkpoint. You're required to present your air ticket and ID. They will then scan your luggage items with all your belongings. All, including camera bags and mobile phones, are put separately in plastic trays before running through scanners. Passengers themselves will then walk through a metal detector.

At a second security checkpoint prepare your ticket or boarding pass and passport. Then, wait for the plane cue, board and enjoy your flight. For international departures, they will confiscate LAG (liquid, aerosol and gels) items that exceed one litre. Check-in counters are open two hours prior to departure. It is recommended for passengers to enter boarding gates at least 30 minutes before the flight schedule.

Bali Airport Facilities

Enjoy free internet connection at the boarding/waiting area. Internet is available via WiFi and at fixed computer terminals. The international terminal has spa and massage services on both levels. Boutiques, bookshops, mini-markets and duty free shops are aplenty. The Bali airport features executive lounges of major airlines, where members can expect extra facilities and services.

Bali airport's duty free shopping offers great convenience. Tax refund is available for items you've purchased in Indonesia. Refunds are valid if you've spent no longer than two days holiday in Bali. It only applies to minimum purchases of IDR 500,000. Be sure to present the special tax invoice issued by 'duty free' specified stores.

Bali Airport History

Ngurah Rai International Airport was established in 1931 at the narrowest point on the southern coast of Bali. The airport was originally built as a simple 700 m long airstrip by the Dutch Colonial administration's Voor Verkeer en Waterstaats public works office. When first established the site only had a few huts and a short grass runway. The northern end lay in the Tuban village graveyard and in the south it occupied previously vacant land. The location in this area of the island has subsequently facilitated arrivals and departures over the ocean with minimal noise and overflights intruding upon populated areas. The current airport has an east–west aligned runway and associated taxiway, with over 1,000 m of that runway's length projecting westward into the sea.

In 1942 the airstrip was in use to stage fighter and bomber operations and received bombing damage from Japanese forces. It was repaired using PSP pierced steel planking. The Japanese armed forces occupied Bali during the Second World War seizing the airport on 19 February 1942.

A poorly motivated garrison of 600 Dutch led Balinese militia deserted almost immediately as the Japanese invaded the island. Their Dutch commander was to learn that through a misunderstanding of his orders, Tuban airfield had not been destroyed by explosives as he had ordered. Apparently his order not to delay the demolition was misread by the demolition engineers at the airstrip who thought instead that he wanted the operation delayed. This confusion allowed the Japanese to take the airfield completely intact.

During the occupation period the Japanese made improvements to the runway at the airport. In the five years from 1942 to 1947 the length of the runway was extended to 1,200 m from the original 700 m. Many Balinese identified the Japanese invaders as being potential liberators from the Dutch colonial authorities who were unpopular on the island.

There was never a significant Japanese fighter squadron stationed in Denpasar although it was within the field of tactical air operations conducted from both Surabaya and Allied airbases in northern Australia. More so the taking of Tuban airfield and the island of Bali deprived the allied forces of a fighter staging field en route from Australia to defend Java. At the time the airport was still called Tuban Airfield, named after the local fishing village.

To allow jet aircraft such as the Douglas DC8 and the Boeing 707 to operate from Bali, it was necessary to extend the runway westward into the sea as any potential eastern extension of the runway was by now blocked by the expansion of the local fishing village. The Ngurah International Airport was developed with the decision by the Indonesia government to further develop and rebuild the terminal building and extend the existing airport runway westward by 1,200 m to a length of 2,700 m with two 100 m overruns.

To meet the ever-increasing number of passengers the terminal buildings were extended with construction of an International Terminal building undertaken from 1965 to 1969. This added international facilities to the existing domestic passenger terminal. The new Ngurah Rai International Airport was inaugurated the on 1 August 1968 by the then Indonesian President Suharto as Pelabuhan Udara Internasional Ngurah Rai, or Ngurah Rai International Airport. The name came from I Gusti Ngurah Rai who was a significant national republican figure during the struggle for independence in Indonesia.

The current airport is named after I Gusti Ngurah Rai, an Indonesian National Hero an Indonesian republican who died on 20 November 1946 in a puputan (fight to the death) against the Dutch at Marga in Tabanan where the Dutch defeated them with the aid of aircraft, killing Ngurah Rai and 95 others during the Indonesian Revolution in 1946.