Bali’s I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport opened a new Terminal Transfer Bridge on 17 August, timed to Indonesia’s Independence Day. The bridge links the international and domestic terminals directly, cutting walking time for passengers connecting between long-haul arrivals and onward flights to Lombok, Labuan Bajo, Yogyakarta and elsewhere in the archipelago.
What actually changed
Until this month, transferring between international and domestic at Ngurah Rai meant a long walk through public landside areas, sometimes a shuttle bus, and a re-clear through domestic security. The new bridge keeps eligible transfer passengers airside and drops the transit time to under 15 minutes for most routings, according to airport operator Angkasa Pura I.
The bridge is part of a wider “Project Optimization” scheme aimed at pushing the airport toward its 2027 capacity target of 32 million passengers a year. Bali is on track for around 25 million arrivals in 2026 despite a 2.42% dip in foreign visits in the first half of the year — the connecting-passenger share of that total has grown fastest, largely because of new routings to Labuan Bajo, Lombok and eastern Indonesia.
Who it helps
The transfer bridge only serves passengers moving between international and domestic flights on select airlines — Garuda Indonesia and IndoOne are the initial participants, with Batik Air and AirAsia expected to onboard through the autumn. If you are booked on a single-carrier itinerary through Denpasar with one of those airlines, ask at check-in whether your transit uses the bridge.
Arrivals ending in Bali get no direct benefit from the change. Immigration, the All Indonesia arrival card check and baggage claim continue as before. Our Bali getting around page covers airport transfer options into Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu and Ubud once you clear.
What we would do about it
If you are combining Bali with Komodo, Flores or the Gili Islands, route via a same-carrier connection through Denpasar rather than switching airlines: the bridge only helps within a single booking. Aim for at least 90 minutes of layover on international-to-domestic transits until the bridge process settles.
For a first Bali trip, our Ubud, Canggu and Seminyak pages cover the walkable zones closest to the main transfer routes. If you are heading straight onwards, check whether your onward carrier operates the bridge — the process falls back to the old landside walk if it does not, and the older route is still slower than most travellers expect.