Batik Air Malaysia will open service between Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL) and Australia’s Adelaide Airport (ADL).

Flights will start in July and operate 3X-weekly, ADL says in a statement. The carrier, which formerly operated as Malindo Air, is an affiliate of Lion Air Group. 

When flying as Malindo, the airline operated a one-stop service to Adelaide via Bali (DPS), Indonesia. “This is the first time [the airline] has offered a nonstop service to and from Adelaide,” Lion Air Group Strategy Director Chandran Rama Muthy says. “Looking ahead to the rest of 2023, we see stronger demand for flights to destinations across Australia and, therefore, we expanded our wings to Adelaide.”

He notes ADL-originating passengers can connect to 45 destinations Batik serves from Kuala Lumpur.

“Malaysia is a strong long-term market for travel to and from Adelaide,” ADL MD Brenton Cox says. “It is exciting to link Adelaide into Asia through Batik’s considerable network. Batik Air Malaysia offers connections through Kuala Lumpur across its network for travelers wanting to continue to other destinations throughout southeast Asia, China, Japan and India.”

Batik Air Malaysia will compete with Malaysia Airlines on the KUL-ADL route. Batik currently serves Australian destinations Melbourne (MEL) and Perth (PER) nonstop from Kuala Lumpur.