Bali to Labuan Bajo: flights, bags and ferries

The route today: two airlines, seven flights a day

Who actually flies Denpasar to Labuan Bajo in September 2026, and who quietly stopped.

The flight east lasts about as long as a slow lunch. Seven departures a day leave Denpasar's Terminal D and land at Komodo Airport 1 hour 5 minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes later, 324 miles away, on the same clock: Denpasar and Labuan Bajo both keep WITA. The flying is the easy part. The hard part happens at the check-in counter, with a duffel full of regulators. ¹

Two airlines carry all of it. Batik Air flies an Airbus A320 with 146 seats. Indonesia AirAsia flies an all-economy A320 with 180. Older packing posts still list four carriers on this pair, and they are out of date: Garuda Indonesia's last scheduled nonstop here was 23 October 2025, and Wings Air's was 20 September 2023. ¹

Which one you pick comes down to the hold, and to whether you are carrying your own kit. That decision is worth a few minutes and sometimes 20kg.

How much baggage do you get on a Bali to Komodo flight?

Batik Air economy includes 20kg of checked baggage on Indonesia domestic routes. Indonesia AirAsia includes 15kg. Both numbers come from the airlines' own help pages, Batik Air's updated on 2 April 2026. Five kilograms sounds like a rounding error until you put a regulator, a BCD and a 5mm wetsuit on a bathroom scale together. ^{3, 5}

Both airlines sell extra weight, and both publish the rupiah rate inside the booking flow. Buy the kilograms when you book, while the number is still an add-on and not a surprise at the counter. ^{8, 3}

What is the Labuan Bajo baggage limit for cabin bags?

Seven kilograms, on both airlines. Lion Air Group sets 7kg across all four of its brands, at 40 x 30 x 20cm on the jets. AirAsia allows two cabin bags weighing 7kg together, and its own home page carries a standing line at the top: 'No cabin baggage over 7kg.' ^{6, 7}

• The cabin limit is a weight, not a shape. Lion Air, Batik Air Indonesia, Wings Air and Super Air Jet all stop at 7kg, whatever the bag looks like. ⁶
• Size on the A320s flying this route is 40 x 30 x 20cm. Wings Air's ATR cabin takes a smaller 35 x 30 x 20cm bag, which matters on a connecting hop elsewhere in Flores. ⁶
• AirAsia counts two bags toward one 7kg total, and sells 14kg of cabin capacity as Xtra Carry-On or Fast Pass, with 10kg the most in any single bag. ⁷
• A high-intensity dive light rides nowhere on AirAsia, cabin or hold. Batik Air takes one in the hold with the bulb and battery removed. ^{8, 4}

Seven kilograms is tight by Asian budget-airline standards, and it is the same number you meet across the region. MMT's guide to carry-on size limits on budget airlines sets it against the rest, and the tropics packing list is built to land under it.

Dive gear: tanks, lights and Batik Air's extra 15kg

The allowance that makes Batik Air the diver's airline, and the paperwork that unlocks it.

Batik Air adds 15kg of free checked baggage for declared diving equipment, which takes an economy diver to 35kg in the hold. Declare the gear at check-in and sign the airline's special baggage form. Skip the declaration and the same kit becomes excess baggage at excess baggage rates. ^{4, 3}

AirAsia treats dive gear as sports equipment only when a tank is in the bag. Its Sports Equipment Allowance comes in 20, 25, 30 and 40kg tiers, one purchase per passenger per direction, with 32kg the ceiling for any single item. Pack a BCD, a wetsuit and fins with no tank and the same set travels as ordinary checked baggage at ordinary rates. Only one of the two allowances applies to a bag. ⁸

1. 01

   Empty the tank the night before

   Open the valve fully and leave it open. Both airlines want the pressure gauge at zero, and AirAsia wants any temperature gauge below 20C (68F). ^{4, 8}

2. 02

   Take out the O-ring and pocket it

   Both airlines ask the passenger to remove it. It travels with you, not with the tank. ^{4, 8}

3. 03

   Say the words at check-in

   Batik Air's extra 15kg arrives only if you declare diving equipment and sign the special baggage form. AirAsia's sports allowance needs an officer's approval before check-in. ^{4, 8}

4. 04

   Let staff inspect and seal it

   Batik Air tapes and seals the tank after inspection. Keep the kit bag under 32kg and it stays inside both airlines' per-item ceiling. ^{4, 8}

Gear you rent in Labuan Bajo weighs nothing at a check-in desk. MMT works that trade through in diving with your own gear and compares the two ways to dive Komodo in liveaboard vs shore diving.

Can you take the Pelni ferry from Bali to Labuan Bajo?

Yes, and it sails from Benoa Harbour. Pelni, Indonesia's state shipping line, lists Denpasar's port as Benoa, code BOA, and West Manggarai's as Labuan Bajo, code LBO. Anyone picturing a jetty at Sanur or the ramp at Padang Bai is looking at the wrong corner of Bali. Benoa is a working port on the south of the island. ⁹

One sailing was left on the September 2026 schedule: the KM Binaiya. That sailing has already run - it docked on the morning this page was written - and it is here because it is what the crossing actually costs and how long it actually takes.

It left Benoa on Thursday 24 September at 23:59 WITA and reached Labuan Bajo on Saturday 26 September at 09:00, a crossing of 33 hours and 1 minute. Economy cost Rp295,500, about USD 16.43 at Bank Indonesia's rate of Rp17,987.49 to the dollar on 25 September 2026. ^{10, 11}

One caution about that schedule. Pelni publishes by date search, so check yours before you plan a week around a boat. The listing points to roughly one sailing a fortnight on this leg. ^{10, 9}

Which is faster, and what does the ferry save?

Eighty minutes in the air against 1,981 minutes at sea: the boat takes almost 25 times as long. Divide 1,981 by 80 and you get 24.8. That is the whole comparison, and for a one-week trip to Komodo National Park it usually ends the argument before the fare does. ^{1, 10}

Time is the real trade, and only one side of it has a published price. What the ferry buys is a Rp295,500 ticket and a slow look at the Flores Sea. What the flight buys is two extra dive days. ^{10, 11}

A week in Komodo has room for one 33-hour crossing or for seven days of diving, and rarely for both. MMT's Indonesia travel guide covers the arrival side of the country, from the visa desk onward.

Landing at Komodo Airport, and whose place this is

Komodo Airport sits 69 metres above the sea with one 2,750-metre asphalt runway, long enough for the A320s that fly it and for the growth behind them. It handled 1,017,995 passengers in 2024, up 8.0 percent on the year, and the Government of Indonesia owns it. A million arrivals is a lot for a harbour town of this size. ²

Labuan Bajo and the airport sit in West Manggarai Regency, on Flores. Out in the national park, Komodo Island is the home of the Ata Modo, about 2,000 people as counted in 2019, who call themselves the Modo people and their island Tana Modo, with a language of their own. Mainland Flores around Labuan Bajo is Manggarai country. Two peoples, two languages, both here now. ^{2, 13}

Entry fees and visitor rules for Komodo National Park are decisions of the Indonesian government, and they have changed more than once. Get the current figures from the park before you build a budget around it.

What should you check before you book?

Four things move between today and your departure date: the schedule, the fares, the fee sheets and the park rules. Ten minutes on the airline's own pages settles most of it, and the tank takes five minutes the night before.

• The airline you want still flies your date. Route data on 26 September 2026 showed seven daily departures split between Batik Air and Indonesia AirAsia. ¹
• Every sector of the ticket stays on Batik Air, if you are counting on the extra 15kg for dive gear. ⁴
• The prepaid excess-baggage price in rupiah, read on the booking page. ^{8, 3}
• The tank is empty, the valve open and the O-ring in your pocket before the taxi comes. ^{4, 8}
• Your dive light is the kind Batik Air will carry, with bulb and battery out, because AirAsia bars the high-intensity and lead-acid ones outright. ^{4, 8}
• Pelni's own date search, for the sailing you want. ^{9, 10}
• Today's rupiah rate at Bank Indonesia, if you are converting the fare. Rp17,987.49 to the dollar was the sell rate on 25 September 2026. ¹¹