Air India’s managing director and chairman; Ashwani Lohani has reported to Economic Times that soon there will be more flights between Delhi and Sydney and, Delhi and Melbourne. Yes, there are already flights that connect these two routes by Air India. But, the demand for these routes is increasing every day and Air India has plans to acknowledge that demand by introducing additional flights in the same route.
Air India has plans to start a non-stop direct flight from Delhi to Sydney and Delhi to Melbourne. From 2017, there will be seven to ten flights between these two routes. There are already a few flights in this route and Air India has plans to add three more. This additional set of flights would be available by the second quarter of next year according to Lohani.
Lohani gave an exclusive interview to Economics Times about this new plan of Air India. Initially, Air India served these two countries in a triangular route; Delhi – Sydney – Melbourne – Delhi. Later, this route was converted into point-to-point route between Delhi and Sydney and, Delhi and Melbourne. As of now, Delhi – Sydney route is served four times a week (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday) and Delhi – Melbourne route is operated on the remaining three days. There is no news to which route the pre-said three flights would be added by next year. There is also no information about the days in which these additional flights would be organized or the month in which these new flights will be released. The additional flights would be two-class 787-8 Boeing Dreamliner aircrafts. This aircraft is increasingly being used by many service providers.
Delhi, Sydney and Melbourne are large cities and also important tourist destinations. Numerous people visit these two countries every year for tourism and business. With increase in tourism footprints in India, Air India is planning to utilize this opportunity to provide better service to citizens of both the countries.
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