Air India has announced that it will launch direct non-stop flights to Australia, marking its return to this market after a 16-year hiatus. The new services will see the carrier fly a triangular route from New Delhi to Sydney and Melbourne starting in August.
Using the airline’s new 787 aircraft, Air India will service the Delhi-Sydney-Melbourne route four times weekly – on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday – along with the thrice-weekly Delhi-Melbourne-Sydney route on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.
The flight times are as follows: the New Delhi – Sydney leg departs at 1345 for a 0630 (+1) arrival. Following this, the aircraft will leave Sydney at 0830, touching down in Melbourne at 1005 and taking off again for New Delhi at 1300, which it will reach at 1950.
The other route leaves New Delhi at 1300, arriving in Melbourne at 05:30 (+1), where it will take off again at 0700 for Sydney, landing at 0830. Then it will leave again at 1000, and finally arrive in New Delhi at 1810.
The decision comes following news that close to 160,000 Indians visited Australia in 2012. This number is expected to increase over time, with Tourism Australia estimating that it will deliver 300,000 annual visitors by 2020.
Tourism Australia’s managing director, Andrew McEvoy, welcomed the move, saying: “Key to unlocking India's long term tourism potential is improved air access and capacity. Securing direct flights to Australia is critical to securing a share of the 50 million Indians expected to travel overseas by 2020.”
In June, Air India announced it would also be flying the Dreamliner to Hong Kong, Osaka and Seoul (see story here).
Visit www.airindia.com for more information.
Clement Huang
