We arrived in Ambon this morning by boat from Banda Neira.
We had not booked a flight from Ambon in case the boat was delayed.
However, we were able to go directly from the port of Ambon to the airport and board a flight to Makassar.
Getting to Ambon airport
The PELNI boat from Banda Neira ira arrived at the port of Ambon at around 8:15am.
Ambon Pattimura Airport is 35 km from Ambon city centre. There are buses to the airport, but they are not very frequent, so we arranged a taxi to the airport via the car-dispatch app Grab.
Grab is convenient to use in major Indonesian cities. Payment can be made by cash or credit card, but we always pay in cash.
As it was very busy in front of Ambon port, we walked a little and hailed a Grab taxi where it was easy for the taxi to stop. The fare to the airport was 162,000 rupiah.
On the way, we stopped at a shop to buy some cakes for breakfast, so the journey to the airport took about 45 minutes.
As it was Ramadan, many food shops are closed during the daytime, but some Christian owned shops were open.
Buying airline tickets at the airport
On arrival at Ambon Airport, we immediately went to the ticket counter. Flights to Makassar with Lion Air were at 11:40 am and 1:30 pm.
We enquired at the counter and were told that tickets were available for the 11:40am flight. No dynamic pricing meant the ticket price was not inflated and was a pretty reasonable price.
Check-in and security check
We purchased the tickets and checked in at the check-in counter on the opposite side of the ticket counter.
The boarding pass was issued very smoothly. We had no checked baggage, just carry-on luggage and there were no baggage weight checks, no vaccine certificate checks, nothing. Easy!
We went through the security checkpoint towards the departure lounge, which we also passed without any problems.
We arrived at the boarding gate at around 10.50am and waited for the boarding to start at 11.10am, discreetly eating the cakes we had bought.
Boarding the plane to Makassar
Boarding started on time. We had our tickets checked at the boarding gate and walked to board the plane.
The cabin had three rows of seats on each side, in Lion Air’s signature colours of red and grey.
The aircraft was not full, but more than 80% of the seats were occupied. The aircraft took off at 11.40am on time.
Arrival in Makassar
There is a one-hour time difference between Makassar and Ambon. Arrival in Makassar was shortly after 12pm local time. The flight took less than two hours.
Makassar is the capital of South Sulawesi Province and the largest city in Sulawesi. It has a population of at least 1,5 million.
We came to Makassar from here to take an international flight out of Indonesia. We stayed overnight near the airport and left for Singapore the next day.
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