Qantas adds Melbourne to Delhi route as demand surges

Strong demand for Delhi has prompted Qantas to add flights from Melbourne for the first time in the airline’s 101-year history, with more new international routes set to be added.

Qantas CEO Alan Joyce has celebrated the restart of regular international passenger flights from Melbourne, and announced a new route to Delhi from December 22. Picture: Gaye Gerard/NCA Newswire

Strong demand for Sydney-Delhi flights has prompted Qantas to launch a Melbourne-Delhi route for the first time in the airline’s 101-years of operation.

The four-times a week, year-round service will begin on December 22, and will go via Adelaide on outbound flights, and non-stop on the return leg.

Announcing the new route at Melbourne Airport, Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the Sydney-Delhi route had been so heavily booked ahead of the December 6 start date, only nine empty seats remained on flights in that month.

“We saw a lot of connecting traffic from Melbourne to Sydney and that gave us the confidence to fly direct from Melbourne to Delhi,” said Mr Joyce.

Prior to the Covid crisis, Qantas operated no direct services to India, but Mr Joyce said the pandemic had changed a lot of things.

“First of all, we see more people wanting to fly direct rather than going through hubs,” he said.

“Qantas used to service the market into Singapore and then connect with an Indian carrier to service a range of destinations in India. We see ourselves now going direct to India, and we think the demand for that is going to be substantial.”

Demand was weaker into Singapore, which became the first country since New Zealand to have a two-way travel bubble with Australia on Sunday.

Farewelling the first commercial Melbourne-Singapore flight in 20-months, Mr Joyce said there was unlikely to be good passenger loads on the route until Australia allowed overseas visitors from more countries.

“Routes like London and Los Angeles have huge VFR (visiting friends and relatives) traffic and huge numbers of Australians coming back. Those routes can be supported with VFR,” said Mr Joyce.

“Other routes like Singapore can’t unless you have all segments opened up and we’re hopeful that will happen before Christmas.”

Mr Joyce called for more clarity on Australia’s staged reopening, including dates on when tourists would be permitted, and when other visa holders would be welcomed.

“I think the aviation industry, the airports, all want certainty on that, and we’ve been saying that to state governments like Queensland and Western Australia about their opening plans,” he said.

“They need to give us certainty so we can have the aircraft and people ready.”

Victoria’s Minister for Tourism Martin Pakula welcomed the restart of Qantas international services out of Melbourne, saying the city had been “waiting for this day for a very long time”.

Mr Pakula said the commitment to a Melbourne-Delhi operation was also very pleasing and predicted demand for the flights would be “incredibly strong”.

“This is a very exciting time for Melbourne and Victoria and we can’t wait to have those flights from Melbourne to Delhi and back,” he said.

“This really is a demonstration of what’s possible with the really high vaccination rates we’ve got and an exciting time for Melbourne Airport, the Victorian economy, Victorian tourism and the Indian expat community.”

Mr Joyce said Qantas was planning a series of other new international routes, after launching close to 50 new domestic services over the last 18-months.

Originally published as Qantas adds Melbourne to Delhi route as demand surges