Bali airport has not suddenly increased its flight capacity, and no new runway has been announced. What has changed is that Indonesia’s air-navigation provider and Boeing have started a detailed optimisation study of the way aircraft move on the ground and use the existing runway. If the study produces workable changes and they are adopted, the eventual benefit could be smoother peak-hour flow, better punctuality and more room for traffic growth.
01 What AirNav and Boeing actually agreed to do
AirNav Indonesia and The Boeing Company signed a Letter of Intent on Tuesday 15 September 2026 to conduct an operational optimisation study at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport.
The primary source is AirNav itself. Its announcement says the study is intended to identify ways to reduce congestion in aircraft ground movements while improving use of the existing runway. The work continues a broader AirNav–Boeing cooperation framework established through a 2023 memorandum covering airspace management, training and strategic air-traffic planning.
The agreement was signed by AirNav Indonesia President Director Capt Avirianto Suratno and Boeing Indonesia Managing Director Indra Duivenvoorde. AirNav describes the project as a data-led modelling exercise rather than a construction announcement.
02 Why Bali’s airport needs an efficiency study
Ngurah Rai is an unusually constrained major international airport. It has a single runway and, as Avirianto explained in Indonesian media, it does not have a full parallel taxiway. That means arriving and departing aircraft cannot always be separated from runway use as cleanly as they can at airports with more extensive parallel ground infrastructure.
At busy times, the sequencing of arrivals, departures, taxi movements, parking positions and runway crossings therefore matters a great deal. A small improvement in how those pieces fit together can potentially save time without building a second runway.
ANTARA reported AirNav’s current operational figure at about 33 aircraft movements per hour. A “movement” is one take-off or one landing, so 33 movements is not the same as 33 departures plus 33 arrivals.
03 Does this mean Bali airport is going from 33 to 40 movements an hour?
Not yet. Public remarks around the signing included a possible increase from roughly 33 movements per hour toward 40. That number is useful context for the scale of the ambition, but it should not be read as a capacity change that has already been approved, certified or put into service.
The official AirNav release is more careful: it says the partners will establish a baseline, model alternatives, simulate their performance and then use the results to prepare recommendations. In other words, the study exists because AirNav still needs evidence about what changes are practical and safe.
For travellers, the distinction is important. There is no verified basis to expect airlines to add extra Bali flights tomorrow because of this agreement. Any real capacity gain would depend on the study findings, operational validation, safety assessment, airport and air-traffic procedures, and whatever approvals are required before a new method is adopted.
04 How the TAAM modelling will work
AirNav says the first stage will use Boeing’s Total Airspace and Airport Modeller (TAAM) to create a baseline representation of normal Ngurah Rai operations.
The baseline will use a 24-hour flight schedule and model both east-flow and west-flow operations — the two broad runway-direction configurations used according to conditions. AirNav says the model will generate operational statistics and four-dimensional visualisations so the team can compare what happens over time as aircraft arrive, depart, taxi and occupy key parts of the airfield.
AirNav and Boeing also plan direct observations at Ngurah Rai with specialists from air-traffic control, airport operations, airlines, ground handling and airport planning. Possible observation points include the ATC tower, terminal radar facilities, airline and ground-handling operations centres, planning units and airside areas.
Once the baseline is validated against AirNav operational data, the partners plan to test alternatives involving layout, ground-movement procedures, taxiway and parking use, aircraft sequencing and coordination. AirNav says Boeing is expected to model up to three scenarios, with additional schedules representing traffic growth.
05 The plan is about using the existing runway better — not adding a new one
One detail is especially easy to lose in a big “airport capacity” headline: this study is not a second-runway project. ANTARA’s coverage of the signing says the aim is to optimise aircraft movements and make better use of existing runway capacity without adding a new runway.
That makes the work primarily operational. The questions are things such as: can aircraft be sequenced differently, can ground movements be coordinated more tightly, can taxiway and apron use be improved, and can peaks be handled with fewer avoidable conflicts or delays?
The value of the study is that those ideas can be tested in simulation before anyone treats them as an operational solution. An option that looks good on paper may create a problem elsewhere in the system, which is exactly the kind of trade-off modelling is designed to expose.
06 What this means for Bali travellers right now
For passengers, there is no immediate action to take. The Letter of Intent does not change your airline booking, check-in time, terminal process or current flight schedule.
The possible traveller benefit is longer-term. If the modelling leads to safe operational changes that reduce ground congestion and make runway use more efficient, Ngurah Rai could have more resilience during busy periods. In practical terms, that could mean fewer minutes lost waiting for runway or taxi opportunities and more ability to absorb traffic growth without every extra flight adding the same level of pressure.
But airport punctuality depends on far more than runway capacity. Weather, late inbound aircraft, airline operations, airspace restrictions, volcanic ash, destination-airport conditions and network disruption can all affect a Bali flight. Even a successful optimisation programme would not make delays disappear.
If you are travelling through DPS today, the normal advice still applies: use your airline’s live flight information, leave a sensible road-traffic buffer for South Bali, and treat operational announcements as planning context rather than a substitute for your specific flight status.
07 What happens next
The next meaningful milestone is not another headline number; it is the modelling and validation work. AirNav says the baseline will be checked against its operational data, alternatives will be developed, and simulated scenarios will be compared before recommendations are prepared.
That means the useful questions to watch are whether AirNav publishes the study results, which changes are recommended, whether a higher hourly movement rate is formally adopted, and when any new procedures actually begin operating.
Until those steps happen, “up to 40 movements an hour” should be treated as a possible target discussed around the study rather than a confirmed new operating standard.
08 Sources and verification
The primary source for this report is AirNav Indonesia’s 15 September 2026 announcement, which sets out the Letter of Intent, TAAM baseline modelling, 24-hour schedule, east/west flow analysis, planned on-site observations and scenario-testing process.
We also checked ANTARA’s 16 September report for AirNav’s public remarks about the lack of a parallel taxiway and the current figure of about 33 movements per hour, and ANTARA Foto’s record of the signing for the stated aim of optimising movements without adding a new runway.
Confirmed at publication: the LoI has been signed and the study is under way; modelling and simulation are intended to produce recommendations; no new runway is part of this study; and we found no announcement that a higher hourly movement rate has already entered operation.
