Qantas is resuming flights to India after an absence of almost a decade, marking an important milestone in the reopening of international travel in Australia.
Flight QF67 took off from Sydney (SYD) at 6 a.m. Monday morning and after 15 hours landed in Delhi (DEL) at 4 p.m. local time.
Following the reopening of the borders, the Australian carrier will offer year-round flights to Delhi (DEL) from its main hubs in Sydney (SYD) and Melbourne (MEL). The routes to India were the carrier’s best-selling of its international network.
Qantas will initially operate three weekly flights from Sydney (SYD) to Delhi (DEL), and by January 2020 the route will have daily flights. From December 22, 2021, the carrier will launch flights from Melbourne (MEL) to Delhi (DEL), with four weekly frequencies in what will be the first time in its history that it will connect the state of Victoria with India’s capital. All flights will be operated by Airbus A330-200 aircraft with a technical stopover in Adelaide (ADL).
“While the last 20 months have certainly been the most challenging in Qantas’ history, as we emerge from the recession we are embracing new opportunities to expand our network in response to unprecedented pent-up travel demand. This is helping us to bring more Qantas employees back to work,” said Alan Joyce, Qantas Group CEO.
The new Qantas routes seek to serve nearly 700,000 Indian migrants living in Australia and their families: during the course of the pandemic, the Australian airline operated more than 60 repatriation flights to India. The only airline operator providing services between India and Australia was Air India, which offers flights from Delhi (DEL) to Sydney (SYD) and Melbourne (MEL) on Boeing 787-8 Dreamliners.
Furthermore, India is one of Australia’s main international markets: prior to the pandemic, travelers used various Asia-Pacific hubs such as Singapore (SIN), Hong Kong (HKG) and Kuala Lumpur (KUL) to connect between the two nations. Qantas’ last operation in India was in 2012 with the end of its Brisbane (BNE) – Mumbai (BOM) via Singapore (SIN) service. The Australian carrier’s first scheduled passenger flight from Australia to Delhi was in 1974.
“The level of pent-up demand on this route can be seen by the fact that very nearly all customers traveled as planned regardless of the additional temporary three-day isolation requirement,” said Andrew David, CEO of Qantas Domestic and International.
“There are very strong trade and economic links between Australia and India, and both the Melbourne and Sydney routes will help support that as international travel begins to normalize” added David.
